The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 10-15-19

Episode Date: October 15, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 10/15/19LIVE from Twin Peaks getting ready for Game 3 in New York (0:00)Terrible Officials (18:50)Hinch Addresses the Media ahead of Game 3 (25:53)

So much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 1202 and H-town. What's happening in lunchtimer? Good afternoon to you and welcome to a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas show. We come to you today from Twin Peaks, Kirby and 59, where Ross, you and I will be playing

dollar well excuse me we'll be doing charitable prop bets maybe at around first pitch at three o'clock well the problem is mad i don't have a whole lot of cash on me i gotta borrow some i can't even tip the valet we can work on that later we are with you today coupons for them that's fine we are with you today to get you ready for game number three of the american league championship series the series the series is tied to the game of peace huge is it a must-win game matt um well okay since you asked if you are under the belief that Garrett Cole and Justin Verlander have to pitch victories every time in order for the Astros to win the series, meaning you don't trust St. Granky and you don't trust a potential bullpen game?

The answer is absolutely yes, it's a must-win game. And as A.J. Hinch, so appropriately said, yesterday, every game in the postseason is a must-win. Every one of them. Okay. So, you know what? When in doubt, I will trust the manager over some scrub. I'll trust the manager. I'm just some scrub.

I'm not very nice. Okay, you're a decent guy. Look, he's just going to coach speak. He's also going to tell you we're trying to go one and oh every day. We're taking one game at a time. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, they'll take it one game at a time when you're managing your bullpen and knowing if you have a day off the next day or not.

That's taking it two days at a time. Okay, so let's do this. Let's say the Astros win today with Garrett Cole in the mound. Will the city of Houston, the population base, be like, hey, we got this? Or will the Astro fans saying after Garrett-Cole? Col loses this game today that we're screwed. We're not going to win this series. That's not the question. The question is, will the series be over? Will they stop playing games?

You're literally. Will they stop playing games, man? Answer the question. Well, they could be not playing games tomorrow. So the answer would be yes. It could be stopping playing. They will stop playing games altogether. All right. By the way, the weather forecast, as you probably heard, is just not getting any better. You know, look, weather forecasters, in my next life coming back as a backup, a left-ended specialty reliever, and a meteorologist. because you know what, it's just a guessing game. I don't think you got the legs for it, Matt.

But the bottom line is it does not look like that weather is going to be conducive for playing baseball, which then opens up, I think, a whole new can of worms about when do you want to go to a bullpen game? Because that's what they're going to call it. The Astros certainly have to do it. The Yankees are going to have to do it. Game two.

Yeah, and that's why they're probably going to have to do it at least one more time because if your third starter is James Paxton, that really means you're kind of lean. The ultimate thought is, though, do you bring Zach Granky back on regular rest and save the bullpen game for later in the series? How do you possibly do it? And I'm sure as AJ and his coaching staff are sitting around having breakfast, they're trying to figure out what they're going to do on this because in some respects it benefits the Astros and sometimes it does not. I don't think it really helps out the game of baseball altogether having these guys have to play on a Friday and then have to jump on a plan and come to Houston before the next day. I'd like, you know, again, you're not getting a lot of good rest as it is,

but you'd hate for them to be getting in 2, 3 o'clock in the morning and have it be a game filled with errors and mental mistakes and one that kind of thing. And with all the pressure of these championship games, that is certainly a possibility. I'm not too worried about the rest and all that type of stuff. But I think, to your question about Zach Rankie, I think absolutely go with him. I mean, solid in his starting game one, even though, I mean, the wheels eventually came off, but that was mostly the bullpen, right?

Six in. is six innings, three earned runs, I think he gave up. So quality start from him there. You don't know what you're going to get in a bullpen day. And so I'm all on board with Zach Rinky game four, depending on the weather. If the weather washes the game out tomorrow, Zach Ranky should start. Yes. Because whatever you're going to throw will be greater than whatever the Yankees will throw, in theory.

Hopefully. But then. Unless he goes, Zach Grinky in the playoffs like he sometimes does. Well, he's been average. He had been phenomenal. He's been very average. But as we said, multiple times, if you can get six innings and three runs from Zach Grinky, a normal Houston Astros offense would be able to cover that up.

Problem is in his postseason, we have not seen the normal Houston Astros offense. That's true. I mean, yeah, you got what you would have told me before game one, Grinky's going six, he's only given up three. I say Astros win. They didn't score a run. They lost seven to zero. So anything can happen.

anything is possible, as Kevin Garnett likes to say, but I would like to see Grinky in that scenario, in the scenario of tomorrow's game getting washed out. All right. So again, it's 100% chance of rain. You have a lot of different layers to it. You have the guys having to play a game on Friday than travel. I don't want to do that.

You have television networks that are paying lots and lots of money. They don't want a 10-15 Eastern Time first pitch. So you are. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that. And then you have how do you shift your starting rotations around, both for Aaron Boone and for A.J. Hinge. So that is a lot to be determined.

AJ Hinch is going to speak to the media in about 35 minutes from now, and we will carry that press conference for you. They're supposed to have a player up at 1230. They still haven't announced who it is. So unless it's somebody really, really awesome, we'll probably pass on that press conference, but I do think it's worthy of hearing AJ, especially getting into Garrett Cole and pitching today.

he'll be going against Luis Severino who was very good against the twins the American Division Series although again you know he's not that far removed from missing 90% of the season with his shoulder some inflammation so for him to go six or seven innings today would be a super bonus but highly unlikely today for the Yankees yeah hasn't gone over five that'd be interesting question we'll see how that turns out I wonder I mean because if not now then win Matt what are you saving him for it's the ALCS these are as as AJ Hinch and probably Aaron Boone think must win games.

So, I mean, if you're going to, if he's, if he's dealing and he's like four inings in, and he's only thrown like, you know, 65 pitches or something like that, I don't know what the situation is. I don't know what the regimen is or the pitch count or anything like that, but it seems like you might as well just keep that guy going out there if he's pitching well. Well, I guess the only thing is they would have to, they would have to discuss beforehand what the doctors have said. They routinely check him.

You know that. I mean, again, he's missed 90% of the season. with multiple injuries. So the point is, is putting him at 75, 80, 85 pitches, going to derail him an extra day in his rehabilitation to come back and pitch on four or five days' rest. And then one more question, Matt, very important. Should we give him the Joe Biazini treatment

and call him a Luis Severino? No, it doesn't really fit. I think it does. But not from Italy. Hey, go down in a deli, see Luis Severino. He's going to take care of you. Yeah. Now, Joe Biazegiore.

Jeannie would have been perfect for Yankee series. True. Actually, Joe Beijini was actually serving you a slice of pizza at 54th and in Times Square. He's probably doing that right now because I think it's a good thing. He's not on the watch. Anybody know where Joe Beagini is? Anybody particularly care? He's at the comedy store. All right.

He's the laugh factory. That's right. He's over with the marquee getting a gig on open, open mic night. 713-212-2-5-79. If you want to get in the conversation, we will take calls in this hour. We'll go into full Astros mode. Really starting with AJ Hinchis. press conference at about 35 minutes, but if you want to chime in on that.

7132125790. If you want to reach to us via Twitter, you can at at SportsMT, at ProNiclo, at SportsRB, and of course our station address. And we're going to be here at Twin Peaks for a few hours. I don't know how long we stay. Depends if we start taking shots, drinking beer, whatever the case may be, enjoying the scenic views. Yes. Everything is fair game at 713-212-5-790. When we come back, I want to get into some little non-baseball stuff, although we're going to really still

obviously focus on that. We've got a serious problem in the NFL, and it's always been a problem, and instant replay hasn't fixed it. And it's not that I'm going to go off of the Detroit Green Bay game yesterday because I watched maybe, I don't know, five seconds of it. It just doesn't intrigue me. There was nothing fantasy-wise.

It wasn't an NFC North match of business. Sexy to me as maybe it was when the Lions were halfway competitive. But officiating in the NFL might be at its all-time worst. An instant replay and the past interferences, which we saw in the Texans and Chiefs games. It should have been called on two different occasions. Warrant overturned that should have been. And all I'm saying is we're in a spot here

where officiating in the NFL is that it's absolute worst. Plus some bad news from the Rockets, apparently, on the health of Gerald Green. That is all coming up. 713-212-5-790. Lunch-timers. This is the Matt Thomas show. So what do you? you put this song on the all-time songs involving New York?

I think it's top five. I'd agree. Number one is Sinatra. Absolutely. Number two, you go Billy Joel. New York State of Mind. Are we missing any? This is three. And then, of course, number four is down and out in New York City by James Brown. I'm going to have to hear that to put that at my top five. It's not really that famous, but it's a good song.

It's James Brown, Matt. How bad can it be? You can't get, you can't go wrong with James Brown. Matt and Ross with you from Twin Peaks. We are at 59 in Kirby, where we're going to have a massive lunch in about an hour and a half. Yeah, there's some massive. There are things that are massive in here, too. And current beer temperatures at 31.4 degrees of those people laying at home.

No sleep till Brooklyn, Beastie Boys. Oh, is there a list of songs involving the word New York in it? Autumn in New York, Billy Holiday. I'm partial to the L. Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. There is a Bruce Hornsby song called In a New York Minute. How do you feel about that? How do you feel about across 110th Street by Bobby Womack? Never heard it.

Okay. That's on the soundtrack. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go New York, New York, and then New York State of Mine would be my top two, and then that song we just played would be number number three. Empire State of Mine. That one's Empire State of Mine. Oh, okay.

No, the one we just heard. Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. New York and then Empire State of Mine. The Empire State of Mine. Then Empire State of Mine. There you go. There's your music references for the show today.

713-21-2-2-5-7-99. I want to get to this officiating for real quick, but I do want to tell you the Astros lineup has changed. And it will go Springer-Alto-A Brantley. That's no surprise. Actually, they flipped them, right? Yeah, Brantley has been going. Bratley's been going to. Bregman cleanup.

Gurriel bumps to five, although he has not had a hit so far in the first two games of the championship series. He bumps. A.J. does Alvarez to six. Correa stays at seven. Reddick moves up to eight and plays right field. Martin Maldonado, the personal catcher for Gary Cole will bat ninth. And by the way, Jean Carle Stant, still not in the starting lineup again today for them. Really?

It is available to pinch hit if necessary. Yeah, he says his quad is good enough to hit. He feels the same. He actually says he's not getting better. He feels the same he did two days ago, so I hate to hear that. That's unfortunate. Yeah. So there you have it when it comes to the lineup.

It's one spot to me. It's not like- like- strikeouts Cole could get right there. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Back to the Astros, a lot of it. It doesn't seem like to me this is a massive change. And let's be brutally honest, A.J. doesn't do a lot of this kind of shifting with veteran players. We've kind of been there, done that.

But Alvarez is in a prolonged slump right now. He just, he looks at least in the first two games of the series, very much out of sorts. Looks like the down and in stuff is getting to him every time. The really good plate awareness that we saw in his regular season, against now, granted, better pitching. Just isn't there like it has been in the last two years. Yeah, he's strong as straight walk. here and there. I actually don't feel like I felt like when Carlos in the

early in the playoffs would look lost, I feel like Kyle Tucker is a guy who looks lost. I don't feel like Alvarez looks lost. Yet he, I mean, he's drawing a straight walk here and there. He did have five hits in the first three games of the playoffs. But since then, he's just been I mean, it's been a combination of tough

matchups, tough calls, and a couple of, you know, a hard hit ball here or there that's gone into a glove. So he is struggling and he is slumping. But I would say my worry level for him isn't just, very high yet. Because, you know, honestly, it's because so many other guys in the lineup have

struggled. I mean, it's not like you can pinpoint, well, the Astros are down 02 in the series because every given opportunity for Jordan Alvarez to be successful, he's not. I mean, there had been spots, but he is not the only one in that club that has struggled with opportunities with runners

in scoring position. Yeah, you ran through it the other day. What was it? Two players, two regular players. I mean, Martin Maldonado included over 800 OPS. I mean, a lot of the lineup is struggling right now and you're going up against this is the playoffs you're going up since this is not you know middle of July against Seattle Mariners you're playing against good teams with great pitching yeah and this is what's going to happen some guys are going to struggle and then some of the cream is going to rise to the top like it

has with Bregman and Altuve we we I felt it was fun for us to do our pick-to-cliqs we'll do that before we get off at 2 o'clock today okay but I will tell you that Yule guria was mine and it didn't come through but I was I've been naturally amped up every time he was given the opportunity. I've been picking Yord on every game. You're going to stay? Well, we'll find out. Hey, call radio T's right there.

If it's broke, wait. What's the definition? If it's broke, change it. I got to be right. How about this? I'm due. All right. Well, hold on to it.

I will not choose him. Well, maybe I might. Let's go to Gerard on 790 into 1223. Gerard, how are you, friend? I'm doing all right, man. How you doing, Matt? Great. Yeah, yeah, big game a day, man.

We got our number one picture on the on the day. It's prevalent that we get this win today. It's going to be tough up in New York, man, because they play it on a different level up there in Yankee Stadium. Feet up there, but like you said, you guys brought up a lot of good points, man. They got to be able to score with runners in position, man. They left for 10 guys on base last game. They're not going to be able to get away with that up there in New York, man. So we're going to need those guys to get those two hits today against the Yankees. Like you said, Alvarez, he's taking the same approach.

that he took during the regular season. It's not coming like they were during the regular season, but he doesn't look like he's overmatched like that. So hopefully he can step up and be that catalyst today for the Astros and bring in some runs, man. But this is a huge game for the Astro, to me more so than the Yankees, took the fact that we got number one pitcher on the mound today.

We've got to get this win. Because after that, you know, it could be a bullpen game, game four. And then we're looking at Zach Grinky after that. So this is a big game for the Astros, man. Hopefully they can get the win, man. But the key thing is to get those key runners in scoring position, man. I think that's going to be the other people to come out on top today. Quick thing you know far as far as, man.

You know, I'm a Rockett's inside. Quick thing, man. Chris Clemens, man. I've been watching him in the preseason. I think he's going to crack the rotation, man. I think he's going to be one of the guys to help the Rockers off the bench, man. That guy is instant offense off the bitch. He doesn't need to go out of the Westbrook to send him up.

So I think he's going to be key him and Austin Rivers off the bitch to go along with looking hard that can create their own offense don't need others instead of looking for. I like what I see out of Chris Simmons, another steal by Darrell Morey

undrafted by Dale Moray, undrafted up play out of Campbell, so I'm excited to see him when the regular season start to help us off the bench. Thank you, Gerard, my friend. Always good to hear from you.

Mix it in some Astros and Rockets. For those of you playing at home, 151 on the clock. Speaking of the Rockets, and by way, Gerard brought up a lot of good points. Chris Clements. Like 17 of them.

Yeah, Chris might make the team. It sounds like Gerald Green's broken foot is a lot more severe. Yes. And Shams is reporting that he's probably done for the season. And we know what happens with Shams is like the instapal mat. You never lies? He never lies. Oh, that sucks.

I mean, he's been off base here and there, but there's no reason for him to put that out if it's not true. And that's just, I mean, look, it's big, it's significant. Well, it's a role player. It's a guy that has provided at times of instant offense. also spent some time to he's also shot you out of games he's not going to give you much defensively but you know what you know why we're sad because he does provide some electricity on the floor he has great leaping ability he tries his damnedest every time he is all about the age and he's a likable fella who has had a role knows his role and is comfortable in his role

and somebody's going to have to pick up the slack on those minutes whatever that those amount of minutes may be yeah he's really happy to be here and houston is happy to have him I mean is I don't know if there's been more many more if any more H-town athletes in professional sports in Houston and I don't even count that I mean that's a bonus that's great but he's good for 12 minutes a game sometimes sometimes more times and no sometimes a stiff breeze will blow him over on defense and he'll should go 0 for 5 from 3 but you know or 2 for 10 but you know sometimes I think he'll he'll shoot you in to well he was he's up and now here's your 9th or 10th best

point here's the thing he becomes cheap so you didn't spend a lot of money on So you're not like, oh my God, the cap is screwed now, whatever the case might be. For what he is, I like Gerald Green on this team, but also this isn't some significant blow. As if it were one of the top rotational players. He's a guy that you put in, and sometimes in playoff games or playoff series, he doesn't even see the floor. So, yeah. Gonna miss Gerald Green for sure, but not a huge blow, in my opinion, although unless you want to go with me on the locker room, heart and soul type of side. Which I think has a small part to the equation, for sure.

but not ultimately enough. I don't think anybody that thinks the Rockets are a 55-win basketball team is going, well, I'm not going to drop that number dramatically because of Gerald Green's absence. Thank you for the phone call. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-213-2-5-790. No fear, no worries, and no hair.

It's the Matt Thomas Way. Houston Sports Talk continues with the Matt Thomas Show. Is that you? Yes, it is. You did? Matt Ross with you at 59 and Kirby, the home of Twin Peaks. Charlie, our hustle is our promotions manager. It's his birthday today.

And I don't know if he's 33 or 43 or somewhere after that, but the man's got a glorious Instagram account. It's not family-friendly under any circumstance. He looks 25, but he says he's like 46, so it's very confusing. He's had a lot of work. done. 713, 212. 5. 713.

2.125 790. 713 2.1-2-2-5. Real fast on the officiating, because I want to just talk about that because a lot of people complaining about the Detroit Green Bay game last night. Rossi, we're seeing pass interference calls not being overturned when it appears to be very obvious. Do you think there is a bias in the officiating community not to overturn what is on the field?

Because right now, officiating with extra challengings of opportunities, great abundant in certain replay, it's becoming a farce. This is, I mean, before this was even enacted, the challenge system seemed broken.

There were times where we, I mean, you have, I mean, Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino, whoever, and these guys or who was the other one, Mike Carey would come on, and just say, well, this looks clearly like it should get overturned. Yeah. Call stands. It would just every time, you don't

know what you're doing and then that just speaks to the sport and then the the the if we see a hundred slow motion replays of something and that the game of inches that it is and some something's being 50 50 and subjective this is why they didn't want this call but it was so bad in the infancy championship game that they had to change something but i mean this is just it this is our this is our challenge system this is what we have in the nfl this is what we have in i mean in baseball and hose al tuvea was safe and all that type of stuff i mean this is just it this is our challenge this is our challenge This just happens in every sport Referees

We appreciate them I don't think that there's some kind of crazy biases These are just hard calls to make and then sometimes they just get them wrong I don't know if it's sometimes Ross I think more times than not they not they don't I'm gonna give you a blanket really easy To defend statement Maybe it's just too hard to officiate Maybe it's just too difficult

You want to call your own? No, I don't know what I'm saying is that you have to know that in whatever pro or college sport you are watching, the athletes might be the best, the facilities might be awesome, the technology, the arenas, but maybe the officials just have not been able to rise to the challenge of how everything in sports today is better than it was, say, 30 or 40 years ago. I think it's just difficult. I mean, balls and strikes,

and um i mean um every sport right umpires with balls and strikes referees with basically everything in the NFL and then oh my goodness i mean blocker charge was that a foul wasn't it was that a travel wasn't it was that a carry in the NBA i mean even i know you're not a soccer guy mad the soccer refs everybody hates them i mean literally sometimes in south america they like chase them down and try to set them on fire and stuff i mean it's it's just every sport it's the nature of it Referees suck. Nobody ever says, man, you know what? Great job, refs.

So here's the thing. We need to stop complaining about them because it doesn't do any good. It's not going to change. Every official, just know this going in. There are going to be massively missed calls. There may be a few subtle miscalls. There may be a few judgments. But if you get a game, whatever you're watching,

especially the magnitude of an American League Championship series, or a playoff game, or an NBA playoff game, they're just not going to get it right. And you've got to pray that your side is on the right side of that. Because every time somebody bitches and moans and goes, runs their Twitter account, at MLB officials on fire, at MLMBA officials, it doesn't matter. They brought in instant replay for one of the most awful calls in the history of posies in football last year to make sure that never happens again

between the Rams and the Saints. And it's going to happen again because we're seeing blatant offensive passes. interferences it should have been called we are seeing pass interference there was one of the Detroit Green Bay game last night again I didn't watch it but I'm seeing the highlights where the or the with a Green Bay defensive player was all over the wide receiver and there was no flag it would have been a perfect easy challenge where I'm done I am done on a regular basis bitching about them because it's never going to change and how about this how about this weekend

with with the Bill O'Brien challenging the pick play on that third that was obvious It was a pick play. Obvious pick. Bill O'Brien, we question him, and we make fun of him and chastise him for a lot of stuff, and rightfully so. But that was the right challenge. It was the right thing to do. What are you supposed to do?

Matt in spring at 1239 before we say how to AJ Hange. Hello, Matt. Hello, sir. I actually coached hockey at a very high level at one point in my life, and hockey officiating is, is not good, and there's been so many times in my life that I just got so frustrated leaving the rank of the arena. Football, you're actually hitting a home run on this. Soccer, I don't know enough about.

Basketball, I don't know enough about, but baseball, I got to tell you something, I think with the replays they do do, baseball is probably the most effectively officiated sport. Because they get it right a lot, and I know the ball and strike call is off on occasion, but I had the least amount of complaining, and I'm not using an adjective, with baseball than I do any other sport. Hockey is brutal on how much they miss, and it is horrible. And what you just talked about, football, that pick play this past weekend, it was horrible. It was horrible, obvious.

And I just can't believe that the NFL, a multi-billion-dollar industry as officials, of which some are part-time. They were talking about the other day. It doesn't matter. You know what, I got a roll. Thank you, Matt. Full-time doesn't matter. There's some make the same mistakes. Staring in a video wall or going to a classroom. They're watching. It's just the same thing over and over again.

I disagree. I think full-time officials would not change the evidence of what has turned out to be. A huge, huge problem in all the sports. I've lost my audio, because I don't feel like I'm talking very loud at this point. But maybe it's just me. Hi, this is former running back of Herschel Walker. We're listening to Matt Thomas on Sports Talk 790. 1245 on Sports Talk 790.

A.J. Hitch is going to speak momentarily. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90 if you want to get in. We're going to get into full. Not that we haven't spent almost the entire show talking about the Astros, but we'll get into full on-deck mode, including playing Robert Ford's call. We've got to come back with our singing choir from Clear Creek is one of a bump in the one-clock hour. I've heard that waves are being made. You're going to try to get them in the studio.

Well, we're going to try to do something. We should try to do it during the World Series or something like that. Okay. We can't have a missing school. Well, what if they don't make it to the World Series? Well, then we can save it for next year when they do make it the World Series. Then they will have lost a must-win game. Aren't they, as AJ said, they're all must-win games.

No, they're not. 7-1-3-1-2-5-790. 7-1-3-1-2-5. We have a trivia question we'll have for an Astros 3-5 flag. Should we give a little hint to the 12 o'clockers that are listed in the show? So the trivia question? Yeah, or should we just make them earn it? Okay, ask it to me.

Okay. If I know it, they'll get a hint. Jose, Carlos Gray hits the home run. Yeah? There have been three other walk-off home runs in Astros history in a playoff. I want you to name two of the three guys that have done it. Chris Burke and Jeff Kent. Hold on, let me try to think of the third.

Okay, well, you only have to do two of the three. I know. You feel confident those are the two? Yeah. Okay. 1001, 1002, 1003. All right, so be ready for the trivia question coming up later. Is Ross Wright?

The other one is really tricky. Oh, was it Kevin Bass? Nope. Who was it? It should have been Billy Hatcher, but that didn't work out. Okay, so it was like 86? It was way before that. Or 80?

It was after 80. It was Allen Ashby and 81 in a division series of strike year, so yeah. Oh, okay. So it was kind of a little... Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah, that's a little more maneuver. But everybody, okay, there's the question. We'll ask it towards the end of the 1 o'clock hour,

so it should take zero people, zero time to figure out what the answer is. I just wanted to mention Kevin Bass because he's got an all-time stash. Kevin Bash also struck out by Jesse Rosswood. That's what I was thinking of. That's what makes me mad. Yeah. And I love Kevin Bass, but I'll never forget that. Okay.

One day when things slow down, we will do a show of things we won't ever forget, and that's right on the list. Okay. Wittenberg for the slam dunk, winning the chance. Lorenzo Charles. I'll never forget that. Yeah, man, no, don't do this. No, no. We got good things going on.

What's going on with AJ Hanch? Yeah, what's up with A.J. Hinch? Is he behind the curve here? He should be talking. And we were going to carry the press conference here in just a couple of seconds. We're looking at the live view of the podium. Podium at Yankee Stadium where there is no one there but just a chair. It's right.

The crickets are arriving. That's exactly. Very nicely done. Dick, very, very nicely done. What do you want to, I was going to say? I don't know what to say on this. Oh. Because we were like, we were like, we had to make sure.

Well, I was trying to go through Thin Lizzie's hits, if you want to talk about that. No, we were, yeah, the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is out, and Thin Lizzie is out. Thin Lizzie is out of the Cannesie not make the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Seriously. I feel like at some point I'm going to make the Rock and Roll Hall of it. Nobody's ever like, man, you know who's one of the greatest bands of all time? Thin Lizzie. Nobody says that.

No, I mean, the Thin Lizzie fan group does. No, there's like six. people in there and then four of them are former members but they'll be loud and noisy about it drummer who got kicked out of the band when they're in working clubs if there's a movie made about the thin lizzie career like yeah we're really going to be a thin lizzie biopic the boys are back in town like how long would that be it's about 15 minutes would vH want to be able to be able to put together like a behind the music yeah and then we kind of stopped making hits All right, let's do it then.

Let's do our pick to click before we get this. Who? Can the offense score five runs today? I guess the bigger question is, do the Astros have to score five runs? I think the Yankees are ferocious, period. They're going to be really good at home. Garrett Cole is going to be dynamic,

but dynamic still can mean two runs giving up. Because it is Yankee Stadium. It's a home field game. It's a home field advantage for them. They've been very good. It's a prolific lineup. Den Lizzie literally had one top 40 hit. Okay, don't remember it.

Sorry. Let's focus on the baseball now. Garry Cole, yes. Astros, pick the click. Can the Astros score five runs today? Yes, they will. Because of? That's a lineup change.

I mean, they've got to look at just about every reliever that they have in game two. Severino isn't going deep in games. I think maybe it'll be low scoring early. They'll score a few late. and then Garrett Cole is going to be dominant throughout. And Roberto Osuna closed it out. Astros win, 5 to 1. If Roberto Osuna, could Roberto Osuna's life just stop right now?

Because he's not at any higher point than he is at this exact moment. Five outs in a crucial game two. Here's AJ Hinch live from Yankee Stadium. Barry, kick us off. Opening with a non-game question for him. Obviously, You guys don't look outside of your own organization that much because of all the work you do. But from the periphery, what do you think of the job Boone has done with the Yankees this year,

considering all the injuries and all the manipulation of players he's had to use? Yeah, you know, one of the things you learn in this job is the appreciation for what all of us go through. There's 30 of us. And, you know, I know Booney personally, so I'm in touch with them. and I, you know, there's banter back and forth throughout the year, and I think he's done a tremendous job of keeping his balance. Because I think it's one thing to, you know, to perform in this job and to be good at this job and to, you know, get as many wins as he has.

But he's been able to maintain the balance that's needed to get through, you know, all the peaks in valleys, whether it's injuries, whether it's a, you know, a bad three-game stretch, whether it's a, you know, a blown game here or there. And he's, you know, he's done a really good job of getting his guys all on the same page. I think I, you know, I applaud all managers for how they get through the adversity throughout the season or the 162 grind. It's most of what we do behind the scenes, nobody really gets to know. So when you're in the job, I think you have great appreciation for the other side and what they have to endure on their side. Stay on the right.

AJ, if the first few games of the ALCS or any indication, the Yankees are going to lean very heavily on their bullpen, something they've obviously done this postseason. How much of a comfort for you is it knowing that your guys can get a little bit more familiar? What does that do for hitters? Yeah, I mean, I think the more you see a guy, the better. I mean, it's kind of the easy answer, but I, you know, I don't know that it's ever comfortable, you know, facing the elite pitching. When they have, when they have as many arms as they have and they can go different ways and, They can still give you different looks. They don't have to bring the same guy in against the same guy every time.

But there is somewhat of a familiarity that comes over a seven-game series. But you have to keep winning in order for that to lengthen out a little bit. I mean, I think the hitters will tell you that facing a different guy every time is the biggest challenge that you have when a team goes to a bullpen or a game by committee or constantly going to the pen. But, you know, when a starter's out there roll, and it's not that much easier. It's not easy to face Garrickola third time, no matter what the numbers say, because of the when he's locked in and doing that,

or if Severino lasts deep into the game. You know, we never figured out Tanaka, and we saw him a ton the other night. So it kind of comes and goes with how the execution on the mound is happening. But when the bullpen comes in game after game after game, you get a little bit more of a fatigue version of that reliever. You get a little bit more of the same sequence. the hitters can get a little bit better idea how they're going to be attacked. Do you sort of agree with the idea that the downside of a bullpen game

or a bullpen heavy strategy is, you know, that one guy might have a bad game. And then they could, you know, like we saw the Ottavino hung a slider the other day. Well, that happens. Like, whereas if you use a starter more and he's on, he's on. Like, do you think there's potholes there? Well, I think the potholes come when, once you start that, you can't stop. I've said that a couple times over the last two series with Tamp.

Once you start to the matchup-friendly approach, you run into a bad matchup eventually. If you have a right-handed specialist, there's going to be lefties in the lineup. If you have a lefty that you don't want to face a rightie, you're going to run into a righty, and you start rifling through your pitching a little bit. But it is hard to get everybody perfectly lined up

and perfectly matched up. The game often changes. It's way easier to do it on paper than it is. in practice and actually practical in the games. But I think the mental grind that it takes on the hitters to give them always different looks, it takes great discipline to just stay with it because it's, you know, what do you do when guys get hot

from a pitching standpoint and they look like they've got their best stuff? It's no different than the same decision that I have every time Garret Cole pitches. Like when do you ever say it's enough? Because it doesn't look any different at 100 or 115 or 118 pitches as it does in pitch 1 through 40. When the bullpen, when you're deploying a bullpen strategy,

it can get a little tricky with making sure you read the game as well as read the, you know, kind of pregame approach that you're going to have with the matchups that you're trying to exploit. If you end up doing that tomorrow if it doesn't rain and they do it, would that be kind of strange to see two teams doing it from the first pitch in a playoff game? Yeah, I mean, this is the ALCS. I think it would be very unique for, you know, one team, let alone two teams to throw that many pitchers that would be expected in that setting.

But I may say I'm doing a bullpen game and Erkiti goes out there at some point during the game and I give them five or six innings. I'm not sure that would really apply. The same. My hope is that I wouldn't have to use nine pitchers. That's not, you know, that's not often ideal because what if the game goes, you know, 10, 11, 12, 13 innings? unexpected things happen in regular games, let alone bullpen games.

And lastly, Presley has been a very important guy for you. His second half was obviously chopped up. What have you seen from him lately? You know, he's had some pitches that had been electric. He's had some pitches that have been misfires, and the misfires have been hit, which is unusual for him. You know, and I talk to him a little bit to make sure that he realizes that I'm not going to lose confidence in him. This guy's got really good stuff.

He's one pitch in at bat away from being the shutdown reliever that got him to the All-Star game. And the shutdown reliever that was barely giving up any contact or any hits. So this time of year, the mistakes feel grand. And when you go in and you give up a hit or you give up a run or mechanically you're a little bit off or you're on for the first couple pitches and then the third pitch, you just, you know, his mechanics get off and he doesn't execute a pitch. these teams that play in the ALCS or NLCS, they don't miss those pitches like they do during the season. But I'm going to get him back in there. He's going to get some big outs in this stretch here at Yankee Stadium.

Here on the left, Buster. AJ, you talked during the year about how Alvarez, for a young player, makes tremendous adjustments. It looks like the game sped up on him in Houston. What are you seeing in him as he processes this? Yeah, that was one of the first frustrating moments for him. where I saw it outwardly on the field when he broke his bat. And all I was really interested in is what was he mad about? Because if he was mad about getting out,

that's just sort of life in the big leagues against really good pitching. If he's mad about changing his plan or chasing, which has been the major issue for him in the last couple weeks, then we can help him along the way. He's such an impactful player on our team and in our lineup. And you've got to have a, to keep encouraging him and our players are encouraging him. He's one swing away from changing the game.

And in a perfect world, we can just get him back in the strike zone. He's super dangerous. He's missed a couple pitches that he's hit, you know, over the course of this season. And as you know, I'm the last guy that's going to jump off that train. This guy is going to be really big for us.

And coming to the stadium, you know, I'll probably remind him that he hit the ball on the upper deck, you know, last time he was here. and that usually would bring a smile to his face. Data front, Natta. Yuley had his best season this year at age 35. What do you attribute that? And when you look at the success he's as a veteran,

is it hard not to wonder what might have been had he been able to come to the big league? Yeah, he's been really, really good for us and a stable part of a team. You know, we faced our own set of injuries. And he and Bregman were really two of the most consistent performers and consistent players in our lineup day in and day out. His defense is underrated. I think his base running is underrated, and his overall game is very mature,

which is because he's been playing for such a long time at such an elite level. We've had to remind some of our younger players how good Yulee was as an amateur back in Cuba, and he was one of the world's best players and not getting the opportunity to play here. So if he had come over to the U.S. and got into the big leagues at an early age,

the sky was a limit for him. He was, you know, he's a star. And to watch him adapt and grow and continue to evolve at the major league level, I think the acclamation process of getting from international baseball to major league baseball from Cuba to the U.S. It's been a great transition for him. Our culture in our clubhouse has a lot of support for him. You know, he's one of the center figures on our team that we love having around.

So I think his production this season is not surprising given his ability, but his ability to maintain it, stay on the field at his age and changing positions when he first got here is a real cool story. Take a couple more right here in the first row. AJ, a lot has been made about how great your pitching is, but can you talk a little bit about how great a defensive unit that you have? Yeah, I'm proud of our defense, and I think certainly when we're synced up and Carlos is healthy and he's playing shortstop

and it shifts Bregman to third. And our infield defense is really, really good. We work hard. Joe Spott is a terrific infield coach. We have a good routine where it's very important to us. We have a couple of guys at the top of our rotation that are high strikeout guys. We have other areas of our pitching staff

that are more contact driven. So it's really important to play good defense. First hand, we know when other teams give us extra, at bats or extra opportunities or extra bases, how much of an advantage that is for us. So we preach heavily to not give up 90 feet. 90 feet matters. We're not going to allow extra base runners or let,

you know, the outfield does a really good job with not allowing extra bases, certainly in our ballpark with all the different configurations. So I think defense and pitching go together. They always have. And our guys take great pride in the run prevention side. And it's just as important as our offense. The last one in the back in the green.

There was a little bit of like a public conversation about pitch tipping that happened in the middle of game two. And it seemed to kind of come out of there was a clip of Bregman when he got the first base. Looked like he mouthed the word glove to the dugout. I'm curious, not asking about the pitch tipping, but it seems like over the years we've seen a lot more when guys in conversations, whether it's on the dugout or on the field or doing more covering their mouths, trying to be more cautious with just what television cameras might pick up. I'm curious what your level of concern or caution is about a situation like that, that kind of becoming a story and what you can do addressing that with players, if anything. Yeah, the pitch tipping stuff is grown to a level unlike any other era of baseball ever been a part of.

It's been around forever. If pitchers are going to tip pitches, then hitters are going to pick up on those tendencies. There's no different than usage if you throw the same pitch to two every time against a right-handed hitter. you're going to have guys that look for that. The gamesmanship that comes with, you know, saying something on the field or trying to alter someone's view or is just grown. I mean, it's just grown. I think it's kind of funny to see how paranoid the entire industry is on giving away their

pitches. And if they don't, if they don't want to tip their pitches, then they should take consideration into doing the same thing over and over again. So human behavior is really hard. But I don't worry too much about it. I mean, we take great precaution in changing signs, talking to our pitchers, looking at video, making sure that we're not giving anything away.

But, you know, it shouldn't overshadow the quality of play or the players or what's going on in the field. I think the paranoia is real, though, and it's real across 30 teams. Thank you. That is AJ Hinch, and there is paranoia because everybody's stealing signs of everybody. Period. And the story.