The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 10-11-19

Episode Date: October 11, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 10/11/19Good Morning Strippers! Anything Goes Friday!Jake Kaplan Joins Matt To Discuss The ALDS Win and ALCS Game 1 (38:26)Nick Turturro on Astros v Yankees : "It's Gonna Be A Blood Bath" (1:05:18)AJ Hinch addresses the Media (1:14:53)George Springer Addresses the Media (1:40:41)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Launch timers is the Matt Thomas show. Yay! On Sports Talk, 790. I single for Al-Tube, his fourth run batted into the series. What nothing, Astros. Look like Gouriel was sitting all over.

The first-season. Blazer from Bratley. The Astros are now homered in 30. consecutive games in a row. Brantley with a big one. Rays are good. The Astros are just better. And Gary Cole, I said yesterday we should start a GoFundMe account.

Maybe I'm aired in that conversation. Why? If there's any way the Astros can... Look, they have the money. It's just the threshold and the taxes and the luxury and all that kind of good stuff. The competitive balance tax, as they call it. Not even the Yankees are in the competitive balance tax. All right, five minutes past 12. That's Ross. That's Nick. I'm Matt.

Hi. How y'all doing? Nicholas, how are you to my friend? I'm doing great. We are going to have a fantastic show today because we have a local baseball team that wins in the postseason on a regular basis. And they're on this station, which are very happy about. We will get your thoughts in, in this first hour in particular, at 713-212-5-790, 713-212-5-790 as the Astros took advantage of a Tampa Bay pitcher who was tipping his pitches. And apparently, and again, I'm not a big watcher of that kind of stuff. It took Eduardo Perez. It took of ESPN.

And more importantly, it took Alex Breggman and Carlos Curry and Michael Brantley about five seconds to figure out. The Tyler Glassnell's where he put his glove was where the pitch was coming. Very observant of them. Astute observations. by Alex Bregman. These are smart guys to watch video. That's true. That's video watching.

That is watching tendencies of leg movement, how he spins, what his mannerisms are. My guess is under the world of how do you tip your pitches. That glove probably is the number one spot. That's the first thing to look forward to. And I think Tyler Glass and admitted, look, I may have been doing that. And I think everybody that was watching the game was like, yeah. So all this ridiculous conspiracy of the asteros of cameras out there, I think in the elementary phase of how do you find out,

how do you figure out if a player tips a pitch? My guess is the glove movement's right at the top of it. Probably. Or were the hand displaced if it's behind the back or on the side, on the top of the elbow, whatever the, you know, on the shoulder, whatever. Whatever it was, it was working because the Astros got to, a very good pitcher. And got to them a lot. And really, I think, put the city of Houston's mind at ease with the big 4-0 early match.

It really did. It was helpful. But I was still stressful. And I was still stressed out. Like when Cole went out for that eighth, it was stressful. I was getting a little stressed out towards the end of the game. I don't know about you. Oh, for sure.

You know I love the, do you think this team should quit tweet? Yeah, why'd you start that when it was like 5 to 1 or 6 to 1? That's exactly the point. 6 to 1. I did it. I didn't do it at 4-0. Even then, you shouldn't do it. Of course, you should do it.

No. Yeah, of course. I just put should they on the question mark. 5-run lead is nothing. In the 9th inning, it's everything. No. With every pitcher available to the Astros, it was everything. But I have learned my lesson.

Eubris has snake bitten the Astros too many times, Matt. That and the double-crushed bust, according to one listener. Well, that guy's a douche. You said it, not me? I did. I love 98% of you. Two percent of you are just terrible people who are keyboard warriors. I zero respect the keyboard warrior.

Yeah, some people were coming after me after I was tweeting about how people were starting the wave. I just said it was a fact. People are starting the wave. No, the wave sucks. the wave is brutal. I mean, like I said, I don't have problem with the wave. I have a complete problem. If it's like July, it's a 10 to one game and you're bored and I don't know,

it's like the eighth inning and they've cut off your booze, so you're kind of sobering up and you just want to do something to keep yourself busy and you want to do the wave, whatever. But if it's 5 to 1, I think it was 5 to 1 at that point, or maybe even 4 to 1, and they're trying to get the wave going in the 8th or 9th inning of a play off game? Like get yourselves together, people. And that's something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do. Yeah. Thanks, Donnie. We're going to have to back off on anything political. There's a lot of

for a lot of reasons. There's a lot of Donnie on my news that I don't want to see. Why? What's going on? Let's see. Steve Kerr's talking about him. Yeah, we're good. Today's a day. We're Trump free today. We're just going to have to be. We haven't asked us victory to get to. He lost. Thanks, Tyson. And then apparently he lost an appeal to stop a house subpoena of his tax documents according to Twitter. Okay. I don't know what that means. And that takes care of the political portion of the Matt Thomas show on a Friday.

It isn't anything goes Friday. Ross, please explain the essence of anything goes Friday. Well, it's in anything goes Friday, Matt. And normally on those, I mean, Monday through Thursday, we give a loser look. You've heard our calls. Okay. Talking about outside pitches and sneaky snake jakes and all that type of stuff. We give the longest leash of anybody.

On a Friday, it gets even longer. at 713, 212, 5, 7190. 713, 212, 5, 790. But isn't it really an Astros win Friday, Matt? It should be. It should be 713, 2, 1,2, 5, 790. Your team beat the raise. It wasn't even close, to be brutally honest.

The Astro bats cooled off middle of the game, but towards the end gave you some insurance you didn't necessarily need, but you got it. And then Roberto sooner came in, and I was in the stands, and there was people around, like, 80% of the people around me were worried about Roberto. Osuna. And I had to calm them all down. I kept saying, he led the

league and saved. It's okay. Hey, it's okay. He led the league and saved. Did you put your hands up there like that? Yeah. I was calming people down. Huh. I didn't realize you carried such weight in the city. It wasn't about carrying weight. I was trying to help these people out. And I was kind of getting annoyed

that they're trying to act like Roberto Osuna sucks when he doesn't. Do you understand that 90% of Major League Baseball teams do this with their closers? Yeah. That's true. Fernando Rodney Kenley Jansen for sure

A Roldus Chapman Craig Kimbril I can go on and on and on and on and on with I mean hell the Astro fans were doing it with Billy Wagner and Dave Smith I covered a Yankees

I covered the Twins team had one of the best closers in the last 15 years in Joe Nathan and everybody was wigging out people wig out about the bullpen in general and closers for sure

and I understand that so Ross I appreciate you being so diplomatic and helping out the city of Houston, but you're never going to calm that 80% down. Well, I told them it was going to be okay, and then they won. And then I said, I told you so to like six people. I might have had a few. But I was right.

He was going to be okay, and he was. He's on rest, clear mind, full hearts, can't lose. And he was watching Friday Night Lights on NBC Universal. Fair enough. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Your thoughts on the Astros moving on to the second round, the American League Championship Series.

We'll get with Jake Capone at 1 o'clock to get his thoughts on all things on the Astros. We have a Texans game. We really haven't talked a lot about the Texans this week, frankly. Have you been back and forth on who you like in the game? Has the injury situation or less than 100% status of a certain ridiculously awesome Kansas City quarterback made you think twice about who you like in the game? And now, Ross, I will give you this. this will be the biggest road win in Bill O'Brien's career.

If you go to a perennial, not perennial, a heavily favored along New England, AFC championship winning city and win that game. Well, the Colts just won there. So let's act like the Colts. Okay. Deal. I'd like that.

Act like the Colts. The most awkward nooner you'll ever be a part of. This is the Matt Thomas show. The top of the first is still a critical time, especially the way that the top of the first inning went in Tampa where they got the big three runs on JV the other day. We were able to get through the top of the first. Garrett comes out doing what Garrett does and then we come in the bottom.

And one of the biggest at bats that nobody will talk about is George Springer leading off the bottom of the first with a bullet single. That was a great first inning for the local nine and they move on to play the Yankees. Nick Totoro is on the show in one hour and ten minutes. Nick Totoro of my favorite show of his is

NYPD Bluebies other things. I've never watched that show. Well, you're just missing on a television greatness. One of the greatest dramas I know that you and Clinton are huge into that show. Of the last 25 years. Okay. Let's take your work for. If you're watching NYPD Blue? Yeah. And

that's, I mean, it was a cop show. Say that again? That's the one where that guy Dennis Franz would show his ass off he would show it off occasionally Yeah I'm good It's the show where police

would arrest people And then bring them to justice And then yell at him for a long time in a NYPD precinct This also had a show It had Ricky Schroeder Childhood Television star Grow up and become an actor

And then Mark Par Gossilar From Sayba The Bell was also Sipowitz's partner It was just a fantastic show And he was with him the whole way So, Nick Duttle is going to join us. Now, here's the thing about Nick. He swears a lot when it involves his New York Yankees.

So needless to say, Nick, you're going to be busy on the dump button because my guess is even though you're going to tell him we are on a commercial radio station, you cannot swear. It might slip out. All right, I'll let him know. I don't see him on this cast list on Wikipedia. He was in a few seasons. I don't think he was in every season. He was in most of them, though, for sure. Most of them.

What was his character name? I don't remember. I'm terrible to character names. His brother's very popular as well. What's his brother do? Pauly Tatoro? Isn't his brother, John? John Tatoro?

Wait, are they brothers? Now, John Titoro I could get excited about. I think they're related. It wouldn't make sense. It doesn't seem like a... It sounds like the last name was Smith or Jackson. Before we get to the Yankee smack, we'll get to his family tree to make sure you guys get all clarified. Go look at his Wikipedia page for the love of God.

Figure it out. Looking at John Totoro's, now that guy has got some hits on his resume. This is Nick Totoro. Oh, yeah, he is, yeah. Are they brothers? Yes. Yep, John Totoro's is a big brother. Okay.

Wow. Can we ask him if we can get John on? It's awful. What? Guys can come in here and give us some great smack talk on the Yankees and you're going to be asking about his brother. Okay, no, I found him. I was putting Nick, not Nicholas.

He was in the first eight seasons as James Martinez. There you go. Okay. He worked with Jimmy Smith. He worked with all the hotties on that show, too. The Amy Brennamins, if you will. The Diana, whatever her name is, she was also played the district attorney.

It's great show. Kim Delaney. Kim Delaney is what I was thinking about. I got the whole cast. Let's go. So Nick Detourle is going to join us at 1.30. And it could be some fireworks. I'm just going to tell you there could be some yelling between us.

Polite yelling, but definitely yelling. Let's say hi to Dave and the Med Center on 790. Hello, Dave. Hey, I wanted to talk about Garrett Cole. I think the Astros really need to sign him next year. And I know that's going to be a lot of money and gets into the whole luxury tax thing. But, you know, we're coming off 300 win seasons. This is a historic team.

It's a dynasty. And especially if we win this year, I think you just got to press. You know, you don't get a team like this, but once every generation. And you got the best pitcher in Major League Baseball and the second best. you got to re-sign them and then, you know, ride this out as long as it can, a couple, three more years before we get bad again and, you know, do it for the city. I don't think Jim Crane is going, I need to screw the city of Houston over by not resigning Garrett Cole. It takes two to tango.

First of all, thank you, Dave, for the phone call. The Astros are going to put an offer out there. They're going to. But they have several players in the next three years. They've got to take care of. And the fact of the matter is, let's not be naive to this. no baseball team in Major League Baseball, you would, again, I can't think of one right out the top

that has basically what, about 80, would have about $85 million tied up in three players? Scherzor Strasberg, what would it? I mean, I'm just throwing a number out. That seems pretty heavy with the Washington Nationals. Next year, Verlander and Grinky will be making 33 and 35. Now, each of them, you got a little money from Arizona and a little money from Detroit.

Right. So let's say they take, let's shave some of that off. Let's say the Astros are on the hook for 50 million between the two of them. Yeah, it's more than that, though, I think, too, as well, though. But yeah, go ahead. He's going to want $30 million next year for several years. I just, I can't fathom, I'd love for it to happen, but I can't fathom the Astros having to pay,

not having to, willing to pay $80 million for three starting pitchers. And that was the conundrum if you have, if you believed in one about going to get Zach Granky on July 31st. It was wonderful when the announcement came by. And he's been a good pitcher for the Astros. Game three was lousy. But Zach's been good, solidified, especially because think about this, you do still trust Zach Granky, right? Not me he's not as much as Cole and Verlender, but you do trust them. If you didn't go get Zach Granky, your game three starter is a hot mess right now.

Because Wade Miley fell off the planet and you have nobody else that can go deep into ball games. You didn't know about Peacock's injury situation. You certainly didn't know what I mean. Jose Arkiti has some signs, but there isn't a sample size that says he can go six and seven things on a regular basis. You wanted extra security for a deep playoff series. So that comes with the territory of going to get a Zach Grinke. And here's another part of it. even if the Astros didn't get Zach Grinke,

there was no guarantee they were going to because, again, if Garrett Cole is asking for way more money than the Astros are willing to spend and all of a sudden the San Diego Padres or the Los Angeles Angels are willing to do it, you still lose. You can still match and he can still go somewhere else. This isn't a right of first refusal. This isn't a qualifying offer. Garrett Cole for the first time in his major league career as a free agent and he wants to strike it rich.

he's going to, it's going to be whether or not the creature comforts of Houston, Texas, and hopefully a World Series Championship is as important as going home and playing in Southern California like he's not frankly ever hidden the fact that he'd like to go play in Southern California at some point in his career. The competitive balance tax threshold next year is $208 million. Now whether or not they're getting money from other teams, that's still their payroll, right? Correct. Okay, so they are at 156 next year. and this is without paying coal. You have George Springer in arbitration. He's making $12 million this year.

Carlos Correa. Carlos Correa arbitration. Osuna arbitration. Jake Marizek, Lance McCuller's arbitration. You add all those guys up and then you add $30 to Cole. You're going to be at 208 in a flash, right? And I think Jim Crane has already publicly said. I'm not going over the threshold.

I mean, can you do like an NBA, Darry-Mory thing where you pay him like $20 million or $10 million next year and then you up at the 40, the following, like, like towards the end of the contract? I don't answer to that. Yeah, I don't know. That's what you'd have to do. I've never heard of a contract that is, at least in baseball, and I'm saying it doesn't happen. I just don't know.

I've never heard of a backloaded contract. And I've heard of other sports, but not in baseball. Well, it's happened with like Bregman and Altovae, but that's when you're buying out arbitration. Correct. So then it, like, for example, Altuva balloons from $9 million this year to $29 next year. But that's because they bought out his arbitration years. So I don't know. I'm looking like, it's looking like they're going to be.

up against it. They're going to be up against 200 million as is right now. They would have to move players. Reddick's contract has one more year in it. Trying to think of anybody else that would be friendly to move. I mean, you could move Brantley, but do you need to want to? That's one more year on that. Do you think Garrett Cole would be open to taking a contract like Bobby Mania and we'll just pay him, you know, not $2 million for the next 80 years?

Until he's 76? No. Maybe. No, there's no maybes. Deferred payments? These kids are not doing this anymore. This is 2019. Bobby Bonilla probably didn't mind right now. Getting a little milly every July or whatever it is.

If the angels offer him six years, $180 million, and the Angels offer, and the Padres offer six years, $182 million. And the Astros said, we'll pay you $2 million until your second grandkids out of college. He's going to say thanks, but no thanks. Let's get a timeout in. Matt, Terrence, Shane, Steve will hang with you. One more phone line is available right now at 713-212-790.

7-13-212-5-5. 790. Real Texans talk H-Town sports all day. On Sports Talk 790? No other radio station set on my precept. Home of your rockets, your Astros, and your talk. It was huge, yeah. I mean, to jump on glass now was big.

Gave us a little bit of cushion, gave us a little bit of area to breathe and kind of get creative, prepared us to go deep in the game. You know, the office. events came out, swinging. 1236 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show. 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Let's continue on the phones. Matt in spring on 7-90. Hi, Matt. Oh, Matt, thanks for taking my call. I enjoy your show during the day. And a couple things. One, last night's game was probably the first time of my life

that I was angst up about a ball game that wasn't about my St. Louis Cardinals or the St. Louis Blues or Missouri Tigers. I mean, I'm pulling for the Astros for a couple of reasons. But there's another thing that we both share at this moment. Say, Louis, we hate the Yankees. And, I mean, I don't care. You're not supposed to use the word hate. Well, I hate the Yankees. And one thing that concerns me in the series is that they do have some guys that can launch the bomb.

And hopefully nothing stupid happens. and they get a couple of lucky home runs. Not lucky, but home runs at the wrong time, and they pull out a 3-2, 4-3 wins, something like that. Because look at the Astros, and this is going to go to the Cole comment and re-signing them in the second. But, you know, it would be great to have the Cardinals play,

the Astros in the World Series, and I look at the lineups. You know, Cranes is St. Louis guy. I don't know if you know that or not. You know, from North St. Louis came from nothing, and just a great guy, But the only position player I think I take from the Cardinals over the Astros right now would probably be Molina behind the plate. And, you know, Huang's a great defensive ball player, a very good ball player.

But he's no L to. And Goldschmidt's a great ball player defensively. He's probably better. But, you know, the Astros just had the best team in the last 30 years in baseball. And a lot of that's because Luton and also how, you know, cranked out on the team. Now, the most important subject here is the resigning. the one thing you can't discount about the Cardinals is that they never tank. And I think that the business model that the Astros have acquired is very similar to that.

I don't think they're going to be physically irresponsible. And I agree with you. I have a hard time believing they're going to tie up $80 million, $70 million, whatever, between just three pitchers. Because there's, you know, history shows that you do that, and you lose, you know, your strength. And they have a lot of good, you know, good full-time ball players. You need to be signed.

Thank you, Matt, for the phone call. I got a lot of folks I need to get to. And you will be our official Cardinals correspondent if they make of the World Series against the Astros. We'll need a definite St. Louis perspective. But for now, I'm really worried about the Astros and the Yankees. Yeah, we don't have to, I don't feel like we need to spend a ton of time talking about Garrett Cole.

I mean, Yankees, game one, tomorrow. Tomorrow. That's it. look, you don't want me to get into Garrett Coe conversation because you're not going to like what you're going to hear. It's just the truth. So let's not worry about it until it's done. That's just the reality of it. It just is.

No matter what happens. The reality is Zach Grinke has got to step up and be the guy that it's made as much money as he has for, honestly, a very average postseason career. Zach Granky, regular season guy, one of the best in the business the last 20 years. very pedestrian in the postseason. I don't even think you want to know the numbers. They're not awful, but they are not nearly as dominating as his regular season career. I mean, Garrett Cole hadn't changed a beat. What he's done in the regular season, he's moved along.

Justin Verlender, for the most part, has been the same kind of pitcher. Now, he was lousy in game four, but that was also short rest, and I think that experiment is basically done. I hope so. But point is, Zach, you know, this is the same conversation. Zach Granky people are having with Clayton Kershaw.

Clinton Kershaw, one of the best starting pitchers in the last 25 years but has a lousy postseason number. 70 innings pitched ERA of 458

64 strikeouts in those 70 innings in his playoff career. Right. Not great. No, no. That's not who he is. Five levels.

Fifth starter level. Yeah. That's just not the same person who he is. That's for sure. All right, 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-21-2-5-790. You guys want to hear the best of Steve Sparks

and the clubhouse that is coming up in the next segment here on the radio show. Here's the thing, in all honesty, because I was listening to getting ready to do the post-game show the other night, last night. He's done it so much that it's hard to come up with new material. That's a byproduct of winning a lot. It doesn't have to be new to me.

It's always entertaining. Play the hits. But it's just not going to be, you're not going to hear things you've never heard before. It just happens to be in a different situation. Terrence in the gallery. Hi, Terrence. Hey, guys. How's it going?

Good. Thanks for having me on. I just want to say, first of all, we've got to stop talking about Garrett Cole and whether we're paying him or not. I like what you said. We can't worry about that right now. It is what it is, but we're playing for right now. Number one thing in baseball is you never look for tomorrow. Let's play for right now.

And as far as Grinky goes, game one, I'm a little nervous, but piggybacking what AJ Hintz said, you know, the importance of Springer's first hit and that four-run inning speaks volume towards our whole series and our series going forward. And I think we need to do that for Grinky. And I'm looking forward to the bats fan hot. And as far as anything goes, Friday goes, can I get a, oh, yeah, ho! I guess, sure, why not? You got it. You did it. Are you a big fan of strange sound effects person? No. Only that guy in the police academy movies. He was cool. The one that was like you would never see his mouth move and then he would do things.

Yeah, and stuff like that. Where is that guy? The guy was awesome. I don't know. Is he still alive? Hopefully he is. Michael Winslow's his name. Is he still alive? I'll find out. That dude would just say the most incredible things and you never see his lips move. He is alive.

He was like the best for intriloquist ever. Build is the man of 10,000 sound effects. 61 years old. He's doing all right. You know what? 61, he'd be good to hang out with. Like, you and the guys are at the bar? You see a couple of good-looking ladies, and you don't want to be that guy? And he goes and starts B-bo-booping.

He starts going R2D to on him. Yeah, he starts going wrong. Yeah, I don't know about that. Oh, come on. One time would be not the worst thing. Woodhouse Day spas. You want to relax for the tension that is game one? Yes, we got to.

All right. Daryl Morey here. This is the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Back in the phones at 713-212-5-790. We'll talk with Jake Kaplan coming up in 10 minutes. The rest of the show is kind of fluid. We got Nick Toterl's going to join us at 130. He's working on something.

He said he's on the set, which I've got to find out what he's doing. I don't think he's on the New York NYPD reboot yet. Oh, why not? He should be. Yeah, they should make him, I don't know, what's the highest thing, Sergeant, or? Chief. Chief. Well, not Chief.

You know, like the, you know, I don't know. I think he'd be a great chief, believe it. You think so? Do you know your officer ranks? That's, believe it or not today, at 255. No, we could do that. I'll have Nick write that. He was in the Navy.

He should know all kinds of. Nick is different in the Navy. Nick, will you help Ross with the hell yeah or not at 255? Okay. Nick was a seaman for many years. Well, we all were semen at one point. I was only a seaman for a short time. Then I became a petty officer.

Okay. You know what you know, you know, you know what we're going to do? Seriously. We probably don't need... I move up from semen to petty officers. Okay, that is enough. That is quite enough from all of you, including myself. 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. It's better than being a seaman apprentice. 130 Nick Totoro, 2 o'clock, Brian Tee. And then after that, there's going to be some press conferences. And then John Tutoro. No John to Toro today. What was I going to say?

I think Zach Granky's supposed to speak to the media? Yeah. We're going to carry it. Yeah. He's starting pitcher. Why wouldn't we? It might be brief. It's going to be very brief.

And then I think AJ is going to talk, too. Okay, great. So we'll have that for the 2 o'clock hour. Plus, I'm so excited. Hell you or not. I'm so happy they won. Yeah, I love hearing baseball chatter from really smart people. And I don't like any of us are in that category.

Well, we're trying, though. We'll get AJ Hinch on. Yeah. Steve and Katie on 790. Hi, Steve. Hello, this is Steve. Yes, my name is Matt. This is Ross.

Good afternoon. You're on 790. you. Okay, great. I just wanted to touch based on a couple things about the Astros. Last night's game

and then the Yankee series coming up. You know, Regman really is this team MVP. When he came up to bat in the first inning, the score was only one-nothing.

Without his hit, you know, it's still a close game. Potentially they tie it. So his double there in the first was just so huge for the Astros getting going. He really earned that MVP nomination there.

And then second, you know, as I'm watching the game, and we're up like three runs, and I'm feeling pretty good with Cole, but I'm just like, man, I wish we could just get one more tack-on run, and I'm just waiting for a home run. You know, so when Brantley smacks that one to right field there in the eighth inning, oh, it was so huge. And I was jumping up and down and screaming as I'm watching the game. It was just great. And then finally, on the Yankee series coming up, I really believe that, you know, for the Astros to pull it out, they just got to get two wins out of the first. five games. I mean, I know they're going to be trying to win every game, but if they get two wins out of those first five games, and they bring it back to Houston, you've got Verlander and Cole at home for game six and seven, and I feel like that's going to be enough. I don't know

what you guys think, but I think that's all the way they have to do. I don't think about, it worked out that way a couple of years ago where the home teams won everywhere, but I'm not at that belief. I don't think the Astros want to be down any point in the series. It might happen, but they don't want to be down. By the way, I'm still looking to see the Yankees have announced their starting pitcher. I'm assuming it's Paxton that would go and game one, we just don't know because they've announced it. He was, did start opening game series against the twins last week. So if they stay in order, that would be the case.

I'm just trying to look to see it, nothing at this point. Yeah, I don't say anything either. Or maybe Severino? Could be. Could be. Let's think. I'm just, I'm just, yeah, I'm looking through there, find out what's what they're going to do. I don't see anything at this point.

We know that LeMay Hughes has been fantastic as a leadoff guy. Aaron Judge, even though he doesn't hit pull home runs anymore, he still can poke the ball to right field. Brad Garner, being a three-hole hitter, has been a pretty big surprise for them. Enron Conaccion, who they got away from Seattle earlier this year, Jean-Carnel Stanton's been healthy for two weeks

in a row, which the thing is a benefit for them. Glaibreta has been consistent. To show you how filthy their lineup is, Ross, when Gary Sanchez and D.Gregorius or your 7-8 hitters, that's a loaded lineup. We brag on the Astros' lineup like they brag on the Yankees lineup. and people can't not think about that.

Yeah, their lineup is great. It's really good. I mean, there's a reason they were, did they lead the entire world in runs scored? I believe they did. It was them or the twins. Yeah, it was home runs. The twins and Yankees were going back and forth.

And that lineup I just spoke to you. It felt like every single player in that group had some sort of injury. Yeah, and they're all healthy. And they're all coming for the Astros hitters and Zach Rinkie in game one. Let's go to Los Angeles, California. Chris is with us on the long distance line. Hi, Chris. You're on 790. Good afternoon.

Hey guys. Good to talk to you. Great win yesterday for the Stroes. Sure. Thank you. Yeah. I've been living in LA for a few years now. So I always rock all the, you know, the Houston gear. And, you know, like after the loss a couple days ago for L.A., I've obviously made a lot of friends out here and they were super bummed. So it's kind of kind of amazing to see the gear go non-existent yesterday when I was out and about wearing my Astros stuff. A lot of people. were actually very pleasant and saying good luck and hope you guys make it, et cetera. So that was kind of nice. I did want to talk about you guys were mentioning Gronky in kind of a parallel with Kershaw. I mean, what is it in the playoffs with these guys

are so stellar in the regular season and they just can't get it done in the postseason? What's your thoughts on that? There's a variety of things. Thank you, Chris, for the phone call. The most important thing to me is the competition is significantly better. There's no cheapies.

There's no Cincinnati's waiting for you. There's no game against the Marlins. it's the same opponent in a short series who have seen you before and they've gotten to a position. Secondly, nerves. Every game is filled with thousands of people, multiple millions of people watching on television, numerous media requests before and after you pitch, so it nerves. It's completely human. I will also say sample size.

Small. We don't know. Oh, I think Clinton Kirchall's sample size is a post. season pitcher is not good. How many innings is he pitched as in the postseason? In his entire life? Yeah. That I couldn't tell you.

That was a disgraceful performance, in my opinion. You know it's tough when Jim Morris. Jim Morris giving him the business right now. In my opinion, that sucked. Yeah. Wait, Clayton Kirschaw has pitched a ton of the playoffs. Okay, so that's probably helping my point, then. 158 innings.

That's a lot. He's got a 4-4-3-E-R-A. Yeah. Hmm. Okay. Maybe I'm more buying it on Kershaw. Grinchie is only at 70 innings. Kerchel's been in the day and deep playoff runs all the time. I think the Zach Granky storyline is going to be determined how he, because he's going to pitch twice in the series. This is the thing, though, okay, for like last year in the LDS against Atlanta, he pitched eight innings, didn't give up a run. Like, did he have nerves then? And then the next, for whatever reason, the next game, he threw three innings and gave up four runs.

I will say this. I think being at home will be helpful. So in a weird roundabout way, if you're going to throw Zach twice in the series, which in theory you were going to, no matter what the rotation was, maybe you think maybe there could be a fatiguing factor? Maybe Clayton can, you know, once he hits or it's Grinker,

whoever, when they hit 200 innings and they're kind of tapped out in their arm and they're just not the same towards the late of the season. Yeah. Some people aren't built to pitch to pitch that many innings. I think after 200 innings, you see sometimes you see different pitchers. How many innings has Zach Granky thrown between the Astros and the Yankees or the Astros and the Arizona Diamondbacks this year? Put that in perspective.

I'll get on that. Is he close to 200? He is, yeah, he's over two. He had a 208 innings he pitched this year in the regular season. And then add in the three in a third or three and two thirds. It wasn't a whole lot. It wasn't a whole lot in the end. It wasn't a whole lot in the A&D start.

Smart baseball people say that over 200, you sometimes, not sometimes. Most pitchers change. You got some exceptions. One happened to be the guy that threw yesterday. I know you want to go out there for the ninth inning.

It was the right decision. 6-1, done, got the insurance, 107 pitches. You're going to need them to win. You need Verlander and Cole to be awesome. And you need them not to be throwing pitch 115 when your team's up five runs.

With really Tampa throwing no threat at you offensively at the end of the day. Just not doing it. All right, let's get to the second hour. We'll talk to Jake. Kaplan, those of you on hold, we will not to forget about you. Andy, Edward, Bruce. Is that Ben and Galveston with Bad Joke, Ben? Is that who that is? I don't know. Maybe.

It says Seinfeld of the Yankees. That feels like a bad joke. He's normally in parallel, but, you know, people can be mobile. It's 2019. He is in the South quadrant of the marketplace. Is the Matt Thomas show. 103 on Sports Talk 7. I. Let's spend 10 quality minutes with our good. friend Jake Kaplan from the athletic. Every Friday, see Jake. With the Astros winning, you can't get rid of me.

How are you, sir? I'm okay. I have to say, it was fun to hang out with you to show up this week. We don't usually, you know, we're usually just talking on the phone like this. We don't get to hang out very often. I know. Yeah, it is. And we'll see each other again down the road.

That's for sure. Give me something that hasn't been discussed yet besides the excellent of Garrickle. What else blew you away from yesterday? Well, what I wrote about last night and what fascinated me the most was the first inning offense, especially against the backdrop of kind of the offense disappearing for a few games against the Ray's exceptional pitching. And, you know, them jumping over Tyler Glasnell early capitalizing on his tell with his glove position on his fastball versus his curveball. You know, that was the game, I thought. I mean, you know, that allows Cole to settle in and not have to worry about the Sogarde solo Homer and just kind of, you know, crews to do what he does.

So, you know, those early hits stringing together singles, you know, and obviously Glassnell figured it out after the first inning and they didn't get another hit until the seventh inning against all the relievers. But, you know, that first inning was monumental. Where are we? And I've been looking a little bit. Again, I don't think the Yankees have announced a start of yet, but where are we on the health of the Yankees? Because that feels like that has been a storyline for them this entire season. Yeah, they're pretty, I mean, relatively speaking, especially compared to most of the season, I think they're pretty healthy. Aaron Hicks, their center fielder, switch hitter is the one who I think is uncertain his status. But, you know, all their other big guys are back.

Lee Severino's back pitching. So, you know, I think at this point in the year, no one's feeling great, you know, on any of these teams and people are playing through stuff. But in terms of like availability, they're probably in their best spot that they've been in a while. Compare and contrast, if you can, the Astro lineup and the Yankee lineup, in your opinion. They're both really good. I'd say the Astros are a little more balanced left and right. But, you know, they're pretty similar. and their best hitters are, you know,

their right-handed guys at the top of the lineup, really. You know, their Yankees are a little bit more swing and miss and power-reliant. The Astros, you know, obviously they struck out fewer than any other team, but still had a lot of home runs. So, you know, the Astros finished, I think, with a slightly better OPS in the regular season, but both are so good that it's really going to come down

to who shows up and performs against. the other is pitching. Easy to say, yeah, it's a little different. So I'm going to give you just an open-ended answer or question to this one. How much do you think about this astrol lineup and those struggles against the rays? And does that is just a great series against a really deep bullpen? Or do you say, hey, there's some concerns that still are bothering you going into the series against the Yankees? I think offense, you know, is suppressed in the postseason in general.

And, you know, we see this every year. You know, Astros played a lot of bad teams in the regular season, not to diminish what they did. But, you know, this isn't the Mariners and the angels that are pitching that they're feasting on anymore. So all these teams that they face in the playoffs are going to have better pitching. You know, there's more attention to detail in the playoffs. There's better game planning, more intense game planning. So, you know, I think because of those things, you're usually going to see less offense in the playoffs.

So I don't know if it's, you know, as much of a concern is just the reality of the playoffs. You know, the raise of a better pitching step and the Yankees do up to bottom, but the Yankees have a much better lineup in the race. So it's going to be a much different series than we just saw for those five games. Jay Kaplan from the Athletic with us here on the Asterospeed on Sports Talk 790. What does your gut tell you about who's going to start game one? Are you going to go with Paxton for the gangs? Yeah, I think so.

My guess is Paxton versus Grinke, but, you know, I think they do have some home road split stuff going on with a few other starters, namely Tanaka. So that could play into what they do. I think Tanaka is better at home, so maybe he goes game three. But hopefully we'll find out this afternoon at the workout. All right. Astros will have a press conference coming up. We'll carry some of that for you in the 2 o'clock hour. The easy thought on Zach Granky is far from spectacular postseason record. How much difference do you think it'll make for him?

He gets to see the Yankees for the first time in this postseason in Houston, Texas, as compared to pitching in front of the bright lights at Yankee Stadium? You know, I don't know. I don't know. I constantly question how much home field versus road matters. I mean, we saw a lot of the road teams win in these playoff games, you know, obviously not in the Astros race series, but in the other series. You saw the nationals, for example, go to Dodgers Stadium of all places and win in game five.

So, you know, I don't know how much that'll matter. I mean, it's also interesting to me, despite being in the other league for most of the year, Grunkey did pitch against the Yankees twice in the regular season, both times against the very diminished Yankees lineup where they were missing a lot of their big players. But, you know, I think the hitters he did face, he did pretty well. so he could probably draw on some of that experience. What other intangibles do you see in this series? From a defensive standpoint, the Astros did a really, really good job.

They didn't make a whole lot of base running mistakes. Give me two or three things beyond the obvious of, oh, great pitching versus good hitting lineups and vice versa on both sides. You know, I think the Bullpen, the Yankees' bullpen versus the Astros lineup will be interesting and vice versa. I know that's kind of hitting versus pitching, like you just said. Right.

But, I mean, it's really, you know, that's probably where the biggest difference, you know, the Astros' biggest weakness and the Yankees' biggest strength is the bullpen. So, you know, I'm curious to see how the Astros, you know, alter the roster between rounds. And, you know, I think that'll be just an interesting, you know, dynamic every game is once the solder's out of the game, especially with the Yankees, who some of the guys aren't as built up. You know, how do they match up against the Astros lineup? Does Wade Miley make the next roster? I would have him off the roster, but, you know, it wouldn't shock me if they carried him since they carried him last round.

But my prediction is Miley off, straw off, peacock on, Brian O'Brien. Kyle Tucker survives the second round. Yeah, I think, I think he'll lock. I think he might start some games. Yeah, it's funny. people who have called the last couple days. Give Kyle, you know, because look, Redick has not looked good at the plate, but nor has Kyle Tucker.

I'm just, I'm trying to balance of, hey, this kid needs a chance because the guy in front of him isn't killing it as compared to maybe the bright lights of a postseason series is too big, especially if you're putting now the championship series at bats in front of him. Yeah, I think what the asteros could end up doing is giving Tucker one start early in the series against whichever pitcher they think he matches up better again. than Reddick does and giving him that chance to turn it around. I know he's only had one start and pinched opportunities,

so it's not a huge sample, but, you know, you're right. It might be not the best place for a rookie to get a seat wet. So I think, you know, maybe they play around with it early in the series and then kind of settle on a matchup-based rotation for the latter half of the series. Here's my prediction. Tell me if you agree or disagree. We will see Cole and Verlander in. in non-starting situations, I don't think we'll see either one of them pitch on short rest.

Is that fair to say in this particular series? Or are you saying, hey, when we get to six and seven, all bets are off about anybody in an amount of rest? All bets are off in six and seven for sure. But as of now, you know, if you map it out, Frankie Verlinder Cole, that would set up Burlender for two and six and coal for three and seven. So, you know, I'm not sure where the opportunity is to pitch them on short rest anyway. You know, I guess Burlander on no rest in game seven, or one day rest in game seven in relief. But, you know, that's kind of the byproduct of the Astros going to five games at the raises, but they don't have the luxury of mapping it out so that they could maximize the Verlinter and Cole outings like they did in the ALDS.

Last question. How much do you think a Ryan Presley could be used in the series? a lot. You know, he's one of their better relievers. And he only had that, you know, he had, well, I guess he had two outings, but one leverage outing in the DS, and it's tough to draw a huge sample of one outing that didn't go well. So I think you'll see all the relievers, all eight of them that they carry. And, you know, Harris, Presley, Nozuna, you know, especially in early in the series when you're

not going to use starters and relief, they're going to have to pitch high leverage in them. And you don't see Brian Peacock making the second round roster? No, I have Peacock on. Okay. I think Peacock is a lock just because it's the Yankees and, you know, he's probably him and Joe Smith are their two best pitchers against right-handed hitters, and they have so many right-handed hitters. So I think you carry both of those guys as basically right-hand specialists.

Good stuff, as always, friend. We'll see you at the ballpark tomorrow night. Thank you for, as always. My pleasure, Matt. Jake Kaplan from the Athletic, Jake M. Kaplan on Twitter, if you want to follow him on the Astros beat. This is James Arden. It goes to hard three to shoot, jacks up a three hits.

This is the Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. Are you kidding? I'm in a New York state of mine. There's so many parody options here. I just don't have the lyrics. I actually did some extemporaneous singing last line on the 10th inning show. Wait, what? I did.

Really? Yeah, to Sinatra's New York, New York. It wasn't great. but I thought Can we can't? No, we can't. Because what I would actually do is I would actually What's that?

I said, yes, we can. No, we can't. What I would like to do is actually really write the lyrics to it and go with it and do a real true parody, but I'm very busy. What are you going to say?

Like start spreading the news, the Yankees are going to lose. They're going to strike out three times. Grinkie's pitching today. Matter of fact, you want to, Let's just, you know, we'll try this. We will try to do a live parody.

We're going to freestyle? We're going to freestyle. Go ahead, Matt. Okay. No, I think you should do it. What? Start spreading the news. Yeah.

The Yankees are going to lose. Grank, see, it's hard without the world. Cranky's pitching today. He's going to be a part of it beating New York. Oh, boy. This is the. one with Frank Jr. is it?

No, this should be an instrumental so you can get it alone. Oh, it's even worse. Oh, you guys weren't ready? No, we're not ready. Start spreading the news. The Yankees are today. Tomorrow.

He's going to be a part of it beating New York. Those astrobats. are going to swing their way. There's going to be home runs and also doubles in the middle. And I want to wake up in a city with great baseball fans. Having 43,000 people screaming. the top of their lungs.

I don't know this part. I don't know where it goes from there. This is why we have to have lyrics. It's fine. This is why Gordy does his thing. He's done this one before. This bit has been done. Okay, well, we need fresh lyrics. Do, do, do, do, do.

Instrumental break. All right, we're going to get, we'll get Nick the Torrell's opinion of our parody here shortly. Bruce and Spring on Seven odi. Hi, Bruce. Hey, good morning. Hi. Hey.

I think it worked out good, in my opinion. Great game. Great game. Congratulations to the Astros. By going game five and just about every game, except the one we got spanked, was a nail biter. I think that bodes well for us moving forward against the Yankees. And I like Cole pitching game three. I think the first and the third game are all important, obviously, but we're really,

trendsetters for the series, the first home game and the first road game for us and having Cole there is, and then he can pitch game seven. I think, I think it's going to be wonderful. A couple of segments ago, you're talking about a couple of customers, customers, listeners were talking about resigning him and paying him and all that stuff. Personally, I like Correa, but I wouldn't resign Correa. I would spend the money on him. Why not go, you said six years, $180 million, go six years, $200 million. That's $33 or $32 million a season. It's a lot of money.

And then when Landers contracts up, what, we got him one more or two more years? Two years after this. Two years after this. Then, you know, depending on his age, he would be, what, almost 38, go year by year. And when his middle series, world hearing, they don't come very often. And, you know, that's what I think. But, you know, it was a wonderful game. I really enjoyed it with my family and on a patio, high-fiving, and it was beautiful.

But enjoy your show, Matt. Thank you very much. Appreciate you calling. Yeah, I just, you guys know I feel. I don't think this is going to happen, but I'm not worried about it. All right, Bad Joke Ben is going to join us here, and he wants production value to the show. So let's before, wait, should actually. Are we sure at him?

No, I'm not sure. Oh. Is this bad joke, Ben? Hey, I got a joke for you. All right. Hold on. We have production value on this, so let Nick involved in this as well. Go ahead. Nick, hey, buddy. I got some inside information from an old Seinfeld take. The Yankees don't like traveling to Houston.

Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Yeah, it's me. Is this Clayton? Well, listen, you son of a bitch. You know where we are? 30,000 feet above your hand, you, master. What are they doing letting you get your bastards on an airplane? Don't they know that's against FAA regulation? I'm hush up now. I can't hear it. Listen, I want you guys to send along those agreements the minute you land. Our boys can't wait to kick your butts. Where's that matter of Houston?

Hey, Chief Watson, win, you Yankee bastards, you're coming to Houston. You tell that son of a bitch no Yankee has ever coming to Houston. Not as long as you bastards are running things. And now, speak up, George. I can't hear you. You tell that son of a bitch, no Yankee is ever coming to Houston. Not as long as you bastards are running things. All right, that was a horrible clip. That was a funny episode.

That was a great episode. Ben is loving it right. Ben, are you loving this or what? The Yankees are coming to Houston. The bad thing coming to Houston. We got a football on Paxon a mile wide. Connecticut can't pitch on the road. And we got Steve Irwin in our back.

And see. That's enough. Put down the mic. Thank you. Quiet, quiet, quiet. Thanks, Donnie. When in doubt, bad joke, Ben, will make something very uncomfortable for a short period of time. Hardin Hammers.

The Beard Tovajal Hawk left. And Springer-dingers. George Springer goes yard. You're home for the Rockets and Astros. Sports Talk 790. I'm back. Is this kiss? It's just ace freely.

I'm back. That's why it was such a huge success. It's not a terrible song. What's your second favorite ace freely song? I'd have to do some research. Yeah, I would do. I don't even know. All right.

I don't know who Ace Freelie is. Member of Kiss. Okay. The one with the stars on his eyes. Yeah, he was, yeah. He got the second most behind Paul, although Paul would never admit it. No, it was actually Gene got it more. No, what would you put in the classic?

The second most, what? That. I'd probably go, Gene first. He's got to be the king. Paul, then Ace, and then the fourth one, I don't know his name. Remember way, way back in the day we had that fantasy guy who would insist that we had to come back with Kiss. We had to start his segment with Kiss or he wouldn't come on. That was like part of the deal.

Was that early in the show? Yeah, it was way early in the show. I wonder if he's still working. I think I remember his name. He wanted fantasy. He wanted Kiss as his band music? Yes. Okay, that seems kind of odd.

All right. We are awaiting a phone call. from Nick Totoro. He's obviously busy on the set. I think it was Scott Engle. That's kind of weird that he would insist on that. Yeah. It's whatever.

Big Kiss fan. I mean... Dr. Rodot doesn't insist on anything. No. Well, he insists that we play his intro. It is a great intro. We've been running for the last five years. It is a great intro.

Let's get a couple phone calls in before him. Hopefully we get to hear from the one and only Nick Totoro. And we got to Brian Tie at the top of the hour. And we got to beat the Schmo's too. We already have the pick contestants' picks. So we'll try to squeeze in it. Yeah, we'll have Nick Reism or something. Andy and Claire Lake on 790.

Hi, Andy. Hey, guys, great show. Thank you. I've been a whole long time. Don't ever sing. Just don't sing. Oh, come on. You loved it.

Oh, I probably did. These bagabon shoe hoos. I don't want to hear that. Fair enough. Hey, here's me I'm talking to a lot of my piece about Jared Cole. First thing I told him, quit worrying about what's going to happen in the off season. But if Scott Boris's his agent.

Yes. Okay. Well, there's not going to be discount and there's not going to be any discussion until close to the winter meetings or maybe a little bit before. Right. So everybody quit learning about it. Now, the only thing I told people that may, may sway him is that the Astros are going to

make a competitive offer. It will not be what other teams offer. Just it can't. And don't get all on Mr. Crane for saying, I don't want to go over the luxury tax. not going to advertise if he's going to go over the luxury tax. He can't do that, right? He won 20 games this year. He hadn't done that before. He's probably going to win the Salli, okay? If he doesn't, he's very close. If that's meaningful to him at all, there's probably only two or three teams that he can find with where that can happen again, all right?

He can't go to the Angels because the Angels would be into Trump for $300 million. And it's actually a very good value because he's been good and they locked him up early on two different occasions with them. Bought out arbitration years and I think he appreciated that. Yeah. So if the Angels cut out of the cold, it's going to be some more money. That's dead. You know, they can't do anything for a number of years. I don't care who you are.

You can't do that. So everybody just relax. joy, we're going to win another ring. The last thing I'm saying, and I want your comments on this, I'll have a formidable power lineup. Everyone, you know, we, we spent a while since we've seen them, but they can hit. So my opinion is that we need to score some runs early. We do much better, and that's an obvious.

I don't know what I saw that catch an obvious here. Right. But when we score early, things happen, and I think that needs to happen. It didn't happen in the race series, but it needs to happen in the Yankee series, and I'm going to hang up and wait some great share guys. Appreciate it. Yeah, I think it's obvious to strike early. Although, because here's the thing, if you don't strike early,

you might get to that Yankee bullpen, which has been not as effective as Tampa's, but not far behind. And the Astros have not been a huge, they've been a few games, but the trademark of them in 2019 has been, they're the captain comebacks. They have gone out and bludgeon people early and never made it a ballgame. I'm okay with that if they want to do that in every game that they play. Yeah, I would not want to be in a, you're down three with two innings to go. We got this kind of mode, a lot.

Might happen, but I'm not one of those situations where the Astros, what they were yesterday was their absolute best pounce on a really good starting pitcher early on and then rode the coattails of one of the most dominant pitchers that the Astros have ever seen in the organization. Yeah, they didn't get a hit for however many innings. Yeah. But yeah, Garrett Cole is amazing, and Garrett Cole forever

an astral legend in my mind. Robert and Javierport on 790. Hi, Robert. Hey, how's it going, fellas? Good. Awesome. Just wanted to just toss it out there,

you know, outstanding job what the team was able to do yesterday in the face of, you know, that big mountain of adversity and, you know, really just making it happen at a time where,

you know, a lot of what could have happened in the baseball world over the course of this last week did happen, you know, with the Dodgers going down and the Braves going down. And, of course, in our case, the Yankees waiting in the wings after having a few days here to, you know, just watch what was going to happen in our series. And, you know, really, you know, seeing Garrett Cole just do what he did and just seeing, you know, exactly what he's brought to the table over the last couple of seasons.

everybody's, of course, making, you know, making, you know, big talk about the luxury tax and whatnot, making big talk about who else we have to resign over the course of this off season. Usually I don't like looking that far forward in the future when we've got enough that we need to take care of here in the present. But, you know, I was just thinking, you know, of course, if I were to have had to prioritize one of the other

in terms of, you know, actually bringing them back, you know, next year in an Astros uniform, or whatever the case may be just with what we can do with the money that we're going to have to deal with in free agency. I'm thinking, you know, it's, you know, with Garrick Cole only about to turn 30, you know, we might want to think about, you know, putting more, you know, in terms of keeping him over here than we probably would on some of the other cats like Correa, for example, who in spite of, you know, whatever, while all he's brought to the table over the course of the last several years, I just think that as far as, you know, what we've seen these last couple of years and just how big of a premium arms like this are, you know, it probably would. would do us a lot more good to lock up coal. I got to stop this. I have to, guys, this isn't, this isn't the Astros in the, and the, and the office is going, is Carlos Correa more valuable to us and Garrett Cole?

This is about the long-term future of this baseball team. This is Michael Brantley leaving at the end of next year. This is Josh Redickley leaving at the end of next year. This is satisfying everybody in the infield for the long term. This is taking care of George Springer. This goes so much deeper than, well, don't pay Correa, but yet pay Garrett. And here's the worst part of it. And I will say this for the 500th time.

If the Astros want to make a competitive offer, the Dodgers, the Padres, the Angels, might win because of location and years. I do not believe, I'll say this until I am blue in the face, the Astros want to spend $80 million on payroll next year on three starring pitchers. In fact, no one wants to do that. But this is not, well, we don't need to pay Brad Peacock. Send us, keep his $5 million.

We don't need to pray Josh Rodic. There's just 12. This is eight years, $240 million. That kind of heavy lifting. And everybody's got a real thing. realize that. But don't do it until January. And Carlos Correy is not a free agent for two more years. Yeah. This is more about ensuring that everybody that you do want to keep around for five

or six years is financially satisfied. And it's not just one player. It's five or six. And oh, by the way, you're not, oh, Nick Detourl's ready to go. Oh, whole, baby. Let me do this. We're going to take a really quick break, right? We need a really quick one. And we'll come back. The legend, NYPD Blue, among other things, is going to find out why his Astro, his Yankees are going to lose in the American League Championship Series. 145 on 790. The Rockets had Red Nation. Matt has Maddie Nation. Things are going to start happening to me now.

You made it. I'm not funny now. More Matt Thomas. Now. But I'll be hood forever. I'm the new Sinatra. And since I made it here, I can make it anywhere. Yeah, they love me every.

I used to copping Harlem All of my Dimini Canals Right there up on Broadway Pull me back to that McDonald's Took it to my smash box 560 State Street Catch me in the kitchen All right.

I want you to turn that music down As I want our next guest To hear this highlight right here The one two Swing and a mess Gerbauer goes down on the hook Ten strikeouts for Cole His third career

Double-Figger strikeout game In the postseason Our buddy Nick Titoro Nick it's Matt in Houston Are you ready to Cole and Verlander and all this awesome Astor offense for the next week. Am I ready? Yeah, I'm asking if you're ready.

I've been waiting for this, brother. I've been waiting. There's a little payback since 2017. This year we're going to flip the switch. I truly believe as good as you guys are. The Yankees got something extra special, different bunch this year. Well, don't forget about 2015 either. The Astros beat the Yankees in too.

Don't forget that. Well, that's a wild card game. Anybody can win a wild card game. Nick. But I do worry about that building because it's a nice stadium, but for whatever reason, we've lost a lot of tough games. It's a funky little place with the nooks and crannies.

And, you know, listen, I give it to you. You built a ballpark, great for your team. And they're a great team, but they're a different team in that building. They've showed it. I mean, I'm Tampa Bay. I mean, you know, that's a nice team. That's a weird place, too. happened to you guys down there.

Yeah, that building sucks, but that's in the here and or there. Nick Totero. That's terrible. They should blow that up. That's terrible. Blow it up is what I'm saying. Yankee Stadium in the playoffs is wild. I mean, they come out.

It's not the corporate crowd. It's the real crowd like me, the nuts, they come out. And, you know, this series is probably going to go six or seven. I mean, I think it's going to be a bloodbath, but, I mean, I can't wait. I mean, I probably will come there if it goes six or seven. Okay. Well, you know what? You've got a studio.

You've got a place. We'll feed you, whatever you got to do to make sure that you understand that the great hospitality, Houston, Texas is before the game. Once the game goes, you'll suffer defeat. You understand this, right? Listen, I understand. Between the lines, when I'm down there, I'm working. I don't go there to fight. I just go there to root for my team.

I'm all business. But, you know, I go there to do work. Because when I put my mojo on a game, very different when I'm in the building. I'm telling you, when I'm in the building, I believe I could turn it. So it might take that. It may take Mr. Tour to go to H-Town to get in that building and get this gun because it isn't going to be easy. You guys are two best teams of baseball. I mean, the Dodgers are soft.

Look what happened to them. But this is it. This is going to be better than the World Series. Hopefully it ain't anti-clamatic and you have a letdown, you know, and you have like a great series and then you wind up losing the world. I've seen that happen too. But let's hope that's not what happened to you. All right, I got to ask you this. Since you are a diehard Yankee, you are so consistent.

who is the Yankee that you're like, this guy's going to come through for us, and then give me one or two guys that you need to see step up in this series? Well, I know, listen, I know Gardner is clutch. I know Judge, listen, as the Yankees go, as Judge goes, the Yankees go, a lot like Al Tuvei and Bregman. Judge is a winner. He's got that look. Dee Dee's starting to come around and Dee's clutch.

Eddie the Parrot and Connoissee, a professional hitter, very dangerous guy. You better watch out for that guy. He can wreck a game. But let's just hope and pray since they're playing Stanton. The Yankees, I think, are waiting to see if this guy catches fire.

If he does catch fire, if he does get hot, that could be rough on you guys. You know what I mean? But I think Encanacion is a guy that could be a difference maker because he's such a good hitter. And he's clutch.

This guy is not afraid of the moment. And Glabor Torres, wow. Wow. This guy is, I'm telling you, he's, he's, you got watch out. The Yankees are in the deep this year. I mean, I know they got great, great pitching, but you know what? Tampa Bay exhausted you guys, and I believe we can beat Granky, and I think we'll find a way to beat one of these guys once. We're getting Cole in New York, which I like, and I think we'll rattle Cole. He's due to have a game where he gives up a few. He's human. I don't care. He's human. But, like I say, if Stanton gives us anything, watch out.

Now, you will politely applaud Garrett calling Game 3 when he comes up and pitches at Yankee Stating, right? The fans will be very, very nice to him, I'm assuming, yes? Sure, sure, it'll be nice to him to a degree. But, you know, they're going to get in his head a little bit. I mean, listen, he was almost a Yankee. He was drafted as a Yankee. He went to UCLA. He was supposed to be traded to us.

I don't know why. What, you know, who the Yankees didn't want to give up. But, you know, listen, Yankees are going to make it tough on them. You know, when you got people like me, every inning, every bat, every pitch, the different animal pitching there, different animal. Remember, Keiko said that a couple of years ago, Keiko said New York is no joke. They know that. The Stroes know that.

This is going to be, you know, this should be a great series. Now, Gary. Give me an update on the catching skills of Gary Sanchez, because I remember a couple of years ago, it was fun watching him just butcher the position. Yeah. Well, listen, he's gotten better. He's actually catching the ball. He's got to.

And I'll tell you, that's another good guy to bring up. His timing's been off. He's been hurt. If Gary Sanchez gets hot, because he, you know, arguably could be the best, one of the best hitters on that team. So when he gets hot, he's a tour to force. He got hot last year against the Red Sox. But he gets his swing down.

That's another scary dude. And he's catching the ball. So, you know, listen, he's catching the ball. pretty much better than what you saw a couple of years ago. So, I mean, the Yankees are a deep team, so did the Stroes, but I think we're deeper than we were. We're better than we were last year. And in 17, nobody expected us to do anything.

Now, the Yankees ever won in 10 years. We've got to get it done. We've got to get it done. You know, coming up second to the Stroes, this is getting a little old, you know? And listen, you know, like I say, much respect. But once it starts, you know, we're not friends. Let me tell you, we are a bitter enemy starting tomorrow night.

Hey, we look forward to seeing your tweets because I can tell that you're, when you go on Twitter to shoot a video of yourself, you're rational, your calm. Everything's working out beautifully. Listen, I try. You know, I try to stay calm. But it's hard, man. It's hard. You know, I mean, this playoffs takes a lot out of me, a lot of emotion, a lot going on. You know, because I'm not less a casual fan.

You know, forget about the celebrity status or that other junk. I'm a real fan. I've been doing this before I was anybody. I was doing this when I was a kid. So, you know, this is real true love, true passion for me. I don't need the attention, but it's just how happens. No. Now it's on Twitter.

So I do it. You're priceless, my man. Do not change a thing of who you are. I really appreciate you coming on. Enjoying your work as always. What are you working on right now? You're on the set right now as we speak, right? Yeah, yeah.

I'm on a set of the SUV, Lauren order, doing a couple episodes. They're a pretty cool group. These guys have been on the air over 20 years, so it brought me back, which is kind of cool. You know, anytime you do something and they bring you back, it's always nice. Well, that's because you're telling my friend. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, brother.

Congratulations on all your success. Go Astros. I got the Astros winning in six. What do you got? I got the Yankees in six, too. The Yankees in six. Yeah, I figured we're going to get a split and maybe two at a three in New York,

then we close them out on your turf. On your turf. I would love that. No. And I'd love to be there. And I'd love to be there at game six while we celebrate. Oh. You know.

No, we don't allow people to celebrate at Minute Maid Park. Well, maybe the Red Sox did last year, but that's on the hearing of order. Well, the Red Sox did. They did. Come on. How did that feel? It felt terrible. Terrible.

And I was rooting for your freaking guys, telling everybody. But that was the Red Sox year. You know, it was the Red Sox year. It's just like I feel like it's all year. So we've got to figure out how, you know, listen, if you want a championship, you've got to win a road game. You know, it happened sometimes years ago. You saw the twins.

They won all their home games and the Cardinals. I don't like to win a World Series like that or a championship like that. The Yankees are good on the road, too. And, you know, the only thing is that, like I say, that building, it's a good crowd. There's a good crowd. And, you know, you guys play well in that ballpark. but I'm glad we're facing Granky the first game.

I think we should light him up. I'm not worried about Granky. He doesn't scam me. I know. I know. The Burland is a beach. All right, my friend. Take care yourself.

We really appreciate you coming on. Safe travels, my man. Thank you very much. The great Nick Totoro with us here on Sports Talk 790. Let's get two-minute made part for A.J. Hinch in his current press conference. I could arrest three exceptional starting pitchers. and happy to line them up that way. Brian in the back.

How do you envision playing time in right field this series with Josh and Tucker, do you sense there could be any sort of change, maybe Tucker playing more, or how do you look at them? Yeah, we'll see. I mean, if you can tell me who they're starting, that would be great. They haven't announced their rotation yet. So that will kickstart the conversation on what lineup

we're going to roll out there. So in regards to right field, I mean, It could be a number of options. As we did in game one, I started tuck in one of the games and Reddick and the others. There's also maybe a consideration for Diaz and left field and Brantley shifted over to right in a Paxton game, but that depends on a couple of different scenarios.

So we'll talk about all this. You know, we've had, I was very strict with our staff and our preparation for this year. We weren't assuming anything. So we've had about 12 hours. to dissect what is possible. So we haven't made any definitive decisions yet. Tony here front, middle.

AJ, have you guys finalized your roster and Hagger Bullpen milk? That goes back to that last? Yeah, no, not at all. And we talked with, I just got out of a meeting. It's still be going on if it wasn't for this session. So I, we're in conversation about that, as you would imagine. So we, I'm expecting to carry an extra pitcher

that we didn't carry in the last series. That's, I said that last, last time. but we haven't made any decisions yet. It's been a quick turnaround for us. And then on Grinky tomorrow, A, how much do you think the layoff may have affected him in his start in the DS? And then with him, how thin is the margin for error just given his command and doesn't have the velocity

he used to add, things like that? So to answer your first question is, I imagine it affected him a little bit for the feel of his pitches, specifically his changeout. That's what he got burned on against Tampa. And some of that was just, they put good swings on some pitches, and some of it was, you know, he threw it in some areas that they controlled the strike zone a little bit. So you put any pitcher, rested, not rested, extra rest, short rest,

and you don't execute your pitches against these teams at this level. You're going to get hurt. You know, as far as margin for error, he's got the same margin for error that he's had for having a league leading ERA the last few years and approaching 20 wins and Cy Young's. And his margin for error, the last 100 starts that he's made plus has been the same. And what I've learned over the last few years here is every pitcher has a smaller margin for error than you can possibly imagine against elite teams. And when you miss your pitches, I don't care if you're throwing 90 or 100. These guys are really good on both sides at making you pay for it.

So pitch selection is always key. He's act as a really good job of disrupting timing, his delivery, his movement on his pitches, the slow breaking ball, the surprise fastball. All that's just how that's the art of pitching. It's how he does it. But I don't look at him. I'm not walking on eggshells the days he pitches because he throws 88 to 90 miles an hour. And the other side's not completely comfortable just because the velo isn't at insane rate that Garrett Coles is or J.B. Down here on the left.

Thank you. Good morning. What are the lessons learned from the LDS that you'll apply here at the LCS and what is your opinion the performance of Orkidi and Osuna in this first chapter of the post-season? The first question is what lessons? You got to win the number of games to win the series. I mean we didn't really need that lesson. We've been here before but you know I just think you play today to win today and not try to map out too much of anything for the future games.

I mean, that's a lesson learned in 2015 when we first made the playoffs as a group. And the more games you manage in the playoffs, the more comfortable you are with selling out to win every single game with your best guys and how to manage in the postseason, which is different than how you manage during the regular season. In regards to Eric Kiti, it was nice to get him in the game.

I think he used a lot of pitches in the short stint that he had. In Tampa, I'm glad he got that out of the way. And I think that will, that will pay dividends for him moving forward. I think Osuna, as much conversation as there was about the rocky start, I think he was exceptional last night. To start to that series, I thought he was exceptional last night, his tempo, his stuff.

You know, we couldn't throw Troy strikes the entire series, and he attacked him to get that last punch out. I trust him at the end of the game. It doesn't waver one bit, just because the stuff and the pitchability and his, his demeanor and his calmness. So I look forward to him closing out some games in this series. Mark in the front. AJ, because you and your team have been there before, is it easy to say celebration over,

move on, focus on Yankees? We said that again? That's because you guys have been here before you and your team. Is it easy to say celebration over, move on, focus on? Yeah, you know, our celebration, we respect what it takes to get here. We enjoyed last night. We enjoyed winning the division a couple weeks ago. We also are really good at turning the page and getting

into the next series. I mean, we don't have a lot of time. This happens fast, you know, get to game five. We didn't have the three or four days off that the Yankees had, so we were here late last night, appropriate celebration, we should tip our caps to the organization to us, to our fans. Thankfully, we have home field.

We didn't have to travel, and we get to open up the series at home. So I think we've been good at that every day and every series. We just get to the next thing. And there was a lot of anticipation of this matchup. There's a lot of anticipation of what this series could become.

We did our part to get here, and our guys showed up today with a lot of enthusiasm, ready to work out before the series. In the back, Allison? AJ, this is a two-part question. I know you haven't set the roster, but is it fair to say that Brad Peacock will be on this roster and also just in terms of the Yankees being

a little bit better at working counts, maybe than the raise? A lot more patient when it comes to your bullpen. How do you see that all matching up? Yeah, so the first question, I haven't even seen a player today. So I want to make sure I talk to our players before I start making announcements.

We are going to carry an extra pitcher. It's very highly likely that Brad Peacock is one of those guys that we're going to talk heavily about. I trust him. It's one of the reasons that we kept him off the first round was to build him up a little bit. He did his work in between. So I'm say highly likely, but until I am able to get him

in front of me and talk him through what I would expect, I'd like to wait on that. How the bullpen matches up. I think you can draw this up and map it up. And this is a really good offense across the way. We know how much damage they can do. We know how patient they can become. You've got to beat them inside the strike zone.

But we all chase. Everybody chases. So if you're in the strike zone enough, you can expand and get them to chase in your areas that you want. But trying to map out exactly how these games are going to go and how the bullpen goes, I think is foolish. I think you have to read the games. And of course, Will Harris is going to be.

given the daunting task at the highest leverage points. Ryan Presley is going to do that. Osuna's going to do that. I think Joe Smith is a very key part of this series with the angle and the movement on his pitches, the different look that he can give to guys. You've seen me go to Josh James in the last two post seasons in big spots because of the 95 to 100

and the plus secondary pitches. So it's not a lot of secrets. We have to figure out where the extra weapons are going to be in our pen and where do we carry length? Do we carry more weapons in terms of how to get some of these right-handed hitters out? But how it maps out per game, I think we've learned in the postseason. All of us managers are willing to do anything out of order or anything out of ordinary to try to get your outs. That's a lot of guys I named that I believe in and that I trust, and that's not even counting the balance of the bullpen that we're going to name, you know,

over the next 24 hours. Okay, we'll take two more in the back. AJ, last night you alluded to the fact that the Yankees have some structural similarities with their pitching staff to the raise. In what ways do they maybe provide a unique challenge to what you saw the last year? Yeah, you know, I think it's changed over the year watching them from afar and you pay attention to what they're doing and how they've gotten healthy as the year's gone on. I think, you know, with Paxton, their rotation kind of starts with Paxton and then and then, and then, and Chan-Tanaka, and we know that to be true. Getting Severino back, I think, is a unique challenge because he's super fresh and he hasn't pitched all year.

And it looks like they've been had just enough time to build them up to handle some of the workload. And then there's always that unknown of how they're going to use their roster. And they use the opener. And then being the Yankees use the opener. It's official. It's part of baseball now.

And that challenge that they have. There's so many guys they can go to in creative ways Is Otavino going to face lefties? Where's Britain fit in? You know, how many innings can Chapman throw? I mean, those are high elite arms that he can, that he can, you know, like Conley throws up a hard. They have velocity.

They have weapons. They've shown, you know, Boone's done a really good job of breaking into the mold of using your pitchers creatively. So, you know, I don't know what the balance of their roster is. It's one of the weird parts of the way that the LDS and the LCS, they collide, and all of a sudden we're going to find out tomorrow. three hours notice it feels like what the rosters are but they have they have a lot of weapons and they've gotten healthy and depending on how they use their rotation will impact how they use their bullpen and so you know coming off the race series we're

about ready for everything there's there's nothing going to surprise us after planning the race one more here this is a matchup that kind of seemed inevitable all season but what is the feeling now that things have kind of mapped out the way everyone thought they would and you're on the eve of it. Yeah, no, I mean, I think I think both teams got here and they earned their way here, maybe not as easily as people want to think. You know, I think both teams had injuries. I think both teams played well in the face of expectations and that's just not a simple plug-in-play season.

162 games will expose you to a lot of different, a lot of different challenges. So we're excited that we're here. The fact that they're here, congratulations to them. I think this is a matchup that a lot of people around baseball expected, but how we got here was maybe a little bit different. I don't think it was as, it's not as simple. Both teams deserve credit for winning as many games as we did and doing it with a lot of different names

and a lot of different configurations of the roster. And now we're here. Seven game series. There's going to be a lot of emotion involved. This is a rivalry that's been created over the last few years, and everybody will think back to the 2017 epic seven game series and expect this to top it. I hope it does, and I hope it's the same result.

I like celebrating at the end of that one. Me too. Thank you, A.J. Hinch. At least now we know that losing sucks. And if anybody knows how much losing sucks, it's Matt Thomas. I'm outstanding. This is Whitney Merston.

Back to the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Here is Zach Branky with the media. Phone calls after that here on Sports Talk 790. Zach, when you join this team with the trade, there's a lot of talk that this was going to be World Series favorites, October, the playoffs. What's it like to watch this get to this point that you're in the ALCS knowing you're this close to the World Series with this team?

A lot of good players, good baseball being played. Dan, were there on the left? Zach, when you look at the Yankee lineup, what challenges do they present and how much of a task is that going to be for you? A lot of good hitters. It's tough for to get good hitters out and not as good headers. Okay. Go back here. Middle? Zach, what, if anything, can you take away from your first two starts against the Yankees this year when you were with the Diamondbacks? Not much. Their whole team was hurt both times I faced them pretty much.

Okay, we take one more down here on the left. If anything that you could share with us when growing up, dreaming to become a ball player and expecting for the best in your career, how do you feel within a personal level about being so close of reaching the ultimate dream of any ball player to become, to be in a world series? Yeah, it'll be good if that happens. Got some games to go still.

Zach, thank you. Okay, brevity sometimes is okay. not the most loquacious and verbose man ever matthew those are huge words for me my friend huge huge huge words Josiah in Beaumont at 223 on 7 o'clock hi josiah uh yeah i just uh anything goes Friday so I want you all let me go in on the new york fraud Yankees real quick but first man I got to line you out on a couple of your takes uh Josh Reddick

terrible. He's got to go. He's done absolutely nothing for us on the field or at the plate. What's the harm in letting Kyle Tucker get some at bat? Because at least he's got a shot. He's, two things. One, he's completely lost and two at bat

so far. I completely disagree. Wait a minute. Did you not see what he did in Tampa when he was going for the pinia? What did Judge Redick do? Ken, I'm not trying to hit this. I'm not trying to defend Josh Redick, I'm just telling you that

Kyle Tucker ain't the guarantee. But to your point, hold on, Josiah, to your point, Alidmus Diaz was brought up in the conversation, maybe moving Michael Brantley to right field. So we're not the only ones that are not completely unaware of the problems in right field. I'm not trying to say that. I'm just saying that

everybody, just because Kyle Tucker is now available, doesn't mean necessarily it's going to be a guarantee that things are going to be a lot better. That's fair. Also, real quick, Garrett Cole, we've got to keep him at all costs. If that means for the next eight years, I know you're talking long-term franchise, what could be better for the Houston Astros long-term than having Garrett Cole at eight years? Luce Correa, lose Redick, you lose the entire freaking bullpen.

It don't matter. They're all trash anyways, especially Roberto Osuna. We're all still a reality. Roberto Osuna is trash. Roberta, that's a terrible take. It's terrible. Terrible take on a Friday. Osuna is trash?

It's not trash. You're an idiot. I remember that guy. That guy was mad at me about this. What was he mad about? Oh, it's whether or not it's a travel. The whole bit's in there. It's named John or something.

It's like a minute long. It's Roberto Osuna is trash. The guy that led the American League in saves, he's trash. Mm-hmm. Trash. The guy, how many hits do you give up last night? closing out that game, how many walks? The deal was zero.

It felt like zero to me. I believe it's zero and zero. Let's go to Joseph in downtown at 225. Hi, Joseph. Hey, what's going on, Matt? Yeah, just, I've been trying to call in. I couldn't get in last night. Of course, man, it was bonkers on your show.

And I tried getting in this morning, but they were packed too, and I went to work. But anyway, I just wanted to, I just thought it was very interesting how, and kind of telling how Garrett Cole tipped his hat to the crowd I would hate to think that he might have thought that would be his last

game pitching at at Minutemade oh man he was just thinking the crowd because they were loud and raucous. Yeah let's not overthink this yeah he wasn't fain farewell right well I mean you know God forbid but I mean you know

it was, it just crossed my mind. And I know we got to, we got to worry about this season, and we're going to, God willing, beat the Yankees and come back home and, and do it to it. But, you know, what are we going to do about these popsicle sticks that Alvarez and, and some of our other guys are swinging right now? It's like, what, what's happening? You know, Carlos Correa's got a pop school stick at the baddest bar. You know, it's called October, ma'am.

Joseph, thank you. It's October. It just is. I wish everybody could bat their batting average during the postseason. Really good pitching. You have to value the superstars and acknowledge that sometimes pitchers are going to be better than hitters. And it very well could happen in the next series, too. Yeah, I mean, they could bust out at any point. I mean, Michael Brantley was struggling the entire series.

He had a home run yesterday. A couple hits, yeah. Michael Brantley hit a home run. He had a game couple in first. game and then wasn't hurt of for three for two three and four i again folks these are magnified highly charged highly talented baseball teams we don't need to calm down each now do we i mean they just won no why are we getting this as soon as trash and this guy's redick's garbage and colesing farewell you guys won the city hey you won the series and another great one's

coming up. Not everybody's going back 325. I hate to tell you that. Larry in Laporte on 7-0.8 quickly before we go try to make you some money. Hello, Larry. Okay. Top of the day. Top of the day. Good day for the Astro. Yes, sir. If we noticed the first inning last night, we had three hitters to go with the outside pitch. Outside pitch, of course. Yes, it was the outside pitch. It was the outside pitch. It wasn't the the glass now was tipping his pitches, it was just, hey, I see the ball outside of the plate. I'm going to go with it. Right.

And that's Reddit's problem. He's trying to pull that outside pitch. Correa looks at it. Correa won't even swing at it. Alvarez, they are not going to give him a pitch on the plate to hit. They're walking first. Right. They're going to pitch him high, and he can only foul that pitch.

He's not round quick enough to hit it unless he hit it to left field. He's not trying to hit it to left field. But that's what he's going to have to do. They're not going to give him a stretch. So he has to manufacture his hit. Wow, man, we're going to take this thing. Good. It doesn't matter if we're at the outside pitch or not.

The inside pitch can be just as effective. More of you on the phones. George Springer is going to speak in 15 minutes. And we get you some money next, or at least we try to. It is 229 on. Sports Talk 790. Good morning, strippers. Shower with the Matt Thomas show.

Wash off the glitter and daddy issues. All right. George Springer is going to visit with the meeting in a couple of minutes. I want you guys to hear that. But first, let's get a couple of minutes in with our good friend, Paul Nolan. Saturday and Sunday mornings, Paul Nolan, there are three things you must do. A good Danish, a hot cup of coffee, and listen to a. and sports investors weekly.

Would you agree on all those things? Well, absolutely. A good day. It's just good any time of the day, really. You got that right. Let's get to the games. We've got three of them we want to highlight in our short time together. This Texan Chief's game is very intriguing.

The line has fluctuated quite a bit over the last three or four days, has it not? Yeah, it came out. We thought the line would be around six and a half and it came back. Obviously, when you put up a 50 burger, you know, there's going to be an overreaction in the market. Then when a team loses on national TV as a 10 and a half point favorite to a team that was kind of supposedly on a downturn and really got run rough shot over it. And the way the Colts ran all over them, you know, it's one of those things. You see all the injuries and all the wounded chiefs all over the field. You know, it kind of tends to overreact.

I mean, especially after the way the Texans were shooting down Falcons. And I think they were going to pass strict of gun laws down there in Texas after that one. Second game. Let's get to the Saints and the Jaguars. Interesting, the fact that we got quarterbacks, backups doing well, Jaguar quarterback kind of uncertain. Where do you see this game? Well, you know, again, I like Jacksonville in this game, laying one-on-a-half.

The heart-to-heart with Jalen Ramsey and Kahn was probably a big deal. This team has kind of rallied around one another, realized they're going to lose their all pro, and they've really galvanized. And, you know, listen, that kid, you know, mince you. with the mustache is obviously got the leadership skills. He's just a good guy. Like he's got a great enthusiasm. It's infectious.

He's a big, stout, sturdy kid. The guys respect him in the locker room. He stands in there for a couple of fumbles. This kid would really be a lot more impressive to us. And it's just really amazing. You know, we were grading him out of the draft. We thought he would have went in the second round. Shocked he fell as far as he did.

We love what he's doing. I think Jackson was a good value this week. I wouldn't be surprised at New Orleans finds a touch of a letdown here. All right. There you go. And then the game that you're going to be asking folks to come visit you with is the Philadelphia-Minnesota game. Two schizophrenic offenses, if it's to say the very least. Well, I mean, to me, it starts with the quarterback play.

Obviously, a lot of been made of, you know, Kirk Cousins and his mental issues in prime time, his mental issues against heavy-duty pass rushes. You know, he misses open guys when he's under duress. You know, sometimes he starts seeing ghosts. He flies and runs out of the pocket to the point where it's, you know, it gets the, like, frustrating for an entire team. Of course, it went to the other, stands in there, Stoke, as it could possibly be. Unfortunately, I think 9% of his passes have been dropped.

Quality passes dropped. It's almost an impossible number to sustain. So we do expect a regression to the mean there. I just doesn't see it lasting. You just can't drop that many. Plus, the receiving corps gets a little healthier. But you've got a Minnesota team that really does great about, you know, the slants and through the flats.

And it's one thing that Philadelphia is secondary, just, doesn't do. Alantoscanric has been a big improvement in the nickel spot, but is it enough is the big question. The truth that matter is, our office loves the total on this game, and we're going to give it for free. I mean, we don't like it.

We truly love it. And I think I've given out quite a few good picks over the air here, and guys can get that pick this weekend. And let's listen to the show this weekend. Saturday and Sunday mornings. Of course, freewinter's dot net is the web address, and a phone number for folks that may reach if they want to over the next couple of days, Paul.

888-36-3-7-33-8-88-36-36-3-7-33-8-8-8-8-3-6-36-37-33. And I know you guys are pretty wild about baseball right now, so good luck to that. Are you like betting baseball in general? Yes or no? Absolutely. It's the greatest value, but it's the least bet sport in all pro sports, outside of hockey, of course, which doesn't exist. I'm going to tell you something right now, a little trick. I went to Vegas and over the summer.

I loved betting the first five-inning total. That was where I won. I didn't care who won. I just wanted lots of offense, and I felt like that was my jam, was winning those. And also a sneaky, a sneaky good one was betting if either team would score an inning in the first run in the first inning, I thought was very interesting.

Oh, great values on that. Absolutely great values. You're not digging into a bullpen, especially when a bullpen has been depleted, and you've got a bullpen that's righty-heavy going against the lefty lineup. It's usually the things like that really make a difference. But I've got to tell you, I'm the only New Yorker out there rooting for the Stroes. Go Stroes.

I'm a lead-ridden Met fan who's just looking for any kind of pain for Yankee fans. I've had it way too good for way too long. And that's why, again, you've got to visit with Paul Nol over at Freewinters. Donnet. He wants the Astros over the Yankees. Paul, have a great weekend. We'll talk next Friday. Thank you, sir.

Have a great weekend. All right, buddy. Again, it's freewinters.net. Saturdays and Sunday mornings. You can catch the Sports Investors Weekly Show here on Sports Talk 790. Let's come back. Get you what George Springer has to say about opening up the American League Championship Series against the Yankees. Those of you online will try to get you as well.

It's 241. It is the Matt Thomas show on a Friday. We appreciate you listening to Sports Talk 790. This is Ricky Williams. I may have worn a wedding dress on a magazine cover, but it still looks better than any outfit Matt can put together. Let your wife dress you, man. Texas fight! Texas Five!

Back to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk 790. George Springer. and Michael Brantley are going to speak in a matter of moments. Let me get one quick call before they do so. Edward and Sugarline. Hi, Edward. How are you? Wonderful.

Thank you for calling and waiting. Hey, Matt. I just wanted to add a couple of things. One thing is, I don't know why us Houstonians, you know, we get on the Ash Coast. The main thing here is we're going to play the Yankees. That's the main thing. Right. You agree?

That's exactly right. It's the end game is running. I mean, we're not hitting. I mean, I understand, but the main thing here is winning the series. That's all. Yeah, it really doesn't matter how you do it. You'd like for your nine-place hitter to be good. You'd like for your number three started to be good, and that's going to have to happen.

The Astros can win if Kyle Tucker slash Josh Rodick slash Alimus Diaz does not hit. The Astros probably can't win this series if Zach Grinky is as poor as he was against Tampa. That's just the bottom line. Now, one thing we have to remember, Matt, we're playing very good baseball team. Correct. The rates are very good. Right. Baseball team, very good.

Yeah. No argument. I mean, we're not playing the Marlins. This is 96-win race team, and thank you for the phone call, followed by, what, 105 of the Yankees this year? It's absolutely amazing. All right. George Springer and Michael Brantley are headed to the podium.

Let's go back over to a minute, May Park. Thanks to Astros.com for their technical support on bringing us these two gentlemen to the podium. A series of it was two years ago when you play the Yankees. Do you kind of talk about how you see this? these two teams yourself and the Yankees different. Obviously, they've gotten Stanton added to the bomber they already had, but just talk about the differences you've seen the team since that.

I think one, they're healthier. You know, they have a full lineup, you know, between Judge, Gardner, Stanton, I mean, it's, I mean, Torres, I can name them all. It's not an easy lineup to face from a pitching standpoint. I mean, I'm not a pitcher, so I don't really necessarily have to deal with that aspect of it. But they're a complete team.

I mean, a full team that got starting pitching, they've got the bullpen to match it. So it's going to be a grind. Down here in the middle? George, what are your thoughts about the quality of the Yankees' bullpen? It's a good one. And it's going to be a grind.

Again, they can control the zone. They all throw very, very hard, have good secondary pitches, and they're smart. So it's a it's a. not going to be an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. Just stay here on the right. Michael, this kind of seemed inevitable all year that these two teams would match up in the ALCS. What's the feeling like now that both teams took care of business and are in this position?

Yeah, you know, it's always that possibility. We have a lot of respect for the Yankees and, you know, their season they had. And it's going to be a fun series. You know, we're in here today preparing. We're going to be prepared tomorrow and hopefully get started off on the right foot. Ketty? Yeah, for either of you guys played the raise to five and one day, they played the twins, they swept them and get four days off.

Who do you think that benefits more? I don't know. I don't know. I honestly don't know. I guess there can be good and bad for having some time off. You know, letting your body rest a little bit. That's always big, you know, at this point in a year. Everybody's been playing since early fit.

everywhere so any time off is a good thing. But again, I don't really know if there's a correlation between having three, four days off or 24 hours. I honestly don't know. On the left, towards the back. For either of you, what is going through a series like that against the raise two for your confidence moving forward? With the quality of pitchers they threw at you

and the type of a bats that you guys had to face, what does that do moving now to this series? where you're going to be facing some good guys, some talented guys as well. Well, this is playoff baseball. You know, you don't get to the postseason as a team without, you know, good quality pitching and being a good team. We knew going into the race series that, you know, they have a lot of good quality arms and that we need to stay kind of short and simple and not try to do too much at times. You know, we have a lot of respect for what they did as a whole pitching staff. They're one of the best pitching staffs in the league for a reason.

And we did a good job with just relying on one another and playing that's a team. team. Stay right here in the middle. Obviously, George, you guys are going to have to play in the Bronx. What was the experience like playing there in 2017, and what do you expect that environment to be like? They expect their team to win, and there's no doubt about it. That's why it's been very, very hard to play there at any time of year, and, you know,

let alone October. It's a crazy atmosphere. I mean, I'll never forget when. Gary Sanchez hit, I want to say, it's a basis clear and double, or it was pretty much close to that. And that, I honestly thought the stadium was kind of fall over. It was loud. They're into the game from before the first pitch until the game ends. It's a tough place to play for anybody.

Hazel, down here, right? How valuable is home field advantage to each of you? The play in front of your home crowd and the support and the energy we feed off. It means a lot to us. We play really well at home. That's not a secret. A record dictates that. And just feeling comfortable here and enjoying it with the fans.

They deserve it as much as we do. They come out and support us throughout the entire season, so it means a lot. Yeah. You know, this place is it's loud. And it's the, you know, the fans are close to the field. And it's a loud, fun place to play. And I really think there's a big thing to say, you know, any team that plays at home, you're comfortable there.

You get to go home to your own bed. You get to kind of do things the way that you want to do off the field. And I really think that that makes a big difference. I think our fans are outstanding. They're extremely fun to play in front of, I mean, the energy from the start is always fantastic. So, yeah, I mean, but being able to play at home for anybody is a big factor. You're the right?

George, like you said a moment ago, you don't have to face these guys. You're not a pitcher, but as a guy that's behind the three pitchers that you guys have going on the first three games, what does that mean for you guys and knowing that if this series does go out, they'll all get two starts? That's huge. You know, I think for us, you know, anytime you're handing the ball, Justin Verlander, Garrett Cole, Zach Granky, you believe in yourself that much more. You know, those guys are the ultimate competitor.

They're so smart. They understand the game. They understand the opponent. Now they still have to go execute the pitches, which is not an easy thing to do. But it's always a very positive thing to know that I'm going to go out there behind those three. Okay, we'll take one more down here on the left. George, Zach was here just a few minutes. We're talking about his opening game one.

He's a person of small words. He has liked to talk a lot with the media. I was wondering in the locker room as a player, as a partner here with you guys, is he more open or is he equally as quiet as he's with us here? What you see is what you get. You know, he is a great teammate won. You know, he wants to win.

it's it's it's it's it's all right if he's quiet no it's really not a big deal um to us you know he's he's into the game so that's pretty much all that matters thank you guys all right thank you that was george springer and uh michael brantley speaking all right prediction time of the three of us when we'll reassemble monday at 12 noon for three hours astros up to zero split one one or down oh Who's starting for the Yankees? Oh, you want to know that right now? I would like to know the bad.

Could you tell it interesting, but a little annoyed that they hadn't announced there? It's kind of one of those professional protocol things where you have to kind of, you call the other guy and see here's what we're going with. Let's go Paxon and Severino, just to throw out names. Versus Grinky and Verlander.

Split. Nick? Astros up, 2-0. Ooh, I like that. I like it. I'm going to go Astros up 2-0. I like it. Let's go.

I'm with it. I just don't think it's going to hit. Last one, Texans Chiefs Sunday, 12 noon in Kansas City. Forget about the spread. Just flat out who's going to win the game. Let's do a one, two, three. And we'll see how we do. And don't hedge.

One, two, three. Chiefs. I'm pulling off the upset. We all are both going upset? Yeah. I just, I watched it against the Colts. And I think something's wrong with all the homes. Here's the thing.

Ross, I've been wrong every single week on production of Texas. Well, I think I'd finally pick the, no, I didn't pick the, no, I didn't them right last week. I would have picked them to cover against the Falcons, but we didn't get the chance because we were off on Friday because of ALDS game one. Yeah. All right. More on the Astros. More on the Texans. More on the Houston Open.

I'm not a moron. Just a moron. More on. Morons. Coming up to three. Up next with the A team. With a reminder before I get you out of here for Shaw. You're not going on there, by the way. You're just staying for a couple minutes. Shaw's jewelry. If you want engagement ring upgrades, Shaw's Jewry, If you want to trade in a piece of jewelry for another piece of jewelry, you've got to think of Shaw's jewelry.

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Home Plate Bar and Grill for Astros on deck here on 790.