The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 10-21-19

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 10/21/19Yankees Bite The Dust (0:00)Why did Chapman pitch to Altuve? (20:03)AJ Hinch and Gerrit Cole Press Conference (54:10) Texans sign a new CB (1:20:46)Ross' NFL Recap (1:28:57)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 1202 and H-Town. What's happening in lunchtime? This is the home of the American League Champions. Sports Talk 790.

This will never get old. I don't think so. This is a timeless classic. Especially when things like this are happening. There goes out to make first pitch and Gurria lines it down the left field line. I don't even know. I mean, I know, Matt, we're in the business of talking about. We are. It makes you speechless is what it does.

It's just. You can keep, we've got to play this some more. Go ahead. So, so exciting. I mean, an all-time game. That on Saturday. To me, now remember, I have only seen a handful of playoff games. is in the 2017 because I was busy doing rockets.

I was actually there for all of the game on Saturday. My favorite Astro game of all time in person was 1986. Mike Scott Thos and no hittero in the National League West. That's a planet. Ooh, look at you. Why was it game 517? So that's still number one for me. Yeah, I would think if I was there for that, that would have been topped for me.

Here's the reason why it was a little different for me. In 86, I'm in the 6th. second level and as an eighth grader skipping school going to watch the thing terrible no it's not terrible it made me the kind of the person i am today exactly well that probably wasn't a great endorsement um as a media member you can't openly cheer right you can go obviously be positive on twitter and or negative on how depending on how you how your life rolls um but you could when the ball was hit you knew it was gone when it left the trademark as myelo would once would say but you couldn't cheer.

I could be like, this is really cool. The team that we cover, team that I've been a fan of since I was eight years old, team that we carry games on. I mean, all the relationships that we have is going to play for the World Series for the second time in three years.

The third time ever. That's the thing that when I said that to myself, like this is special. Like this was expected of this team because they're so good and it was a battle with the Yankees. But you have to realize this is so special.

This is only the third time in the history of this franchise. They've been to the World Series. I know the expectations were high, and maybe some of the team is like, you know what, we're supposed to be here, and they are supposed to be there, but that doesn't mean that it's not a great accomplishment.

It doesn't mean that you can't have lots of drama either. My God, a bullpen game with Peacock, I mean, I don't want to go through all of them, but the fact that Ryan Presley goes up there and does his job, and then he pulls up learning. The catch that Redneck, Mike May, you just heard a minute ago. The Brantley double playball,

maybe one of the five best defensive plays I've ever seen in a major league baseball game in my life. And I've watched baseball again since I was seven or eight years old. In person, not only to stretch the make the play, but in a, I'm not trying to tell you some you already don't know. The most fluid of motion gets right back up. And then he throws, I mean, a dart to Gurriel to punch to get the run around at first base.

Yeah, it was, yeah, Aaron Judge on the one hop. And it wasn't even close. That's how much of a canon that he showed there that you didn't know he had. Then you had Carlos Correa turn in that double play. Yeah. 94.5 miles an hour. With the pop fly throw that originally Al-Tubei had. And then I set it on Twitter and I'm ready to debate.

It's really a fun debate to have. But with what Jose El-Tube did yesterday, he's the greatest all astroval. all time. The greatest Houston Astro of all time. And I love me some Craig Bissio. I mean, you know how I feel about Nolan Ryan. Yes. Jeff Bagwell, I mean, goat.

Until Saturday night. Cesar Cedeno, one of the great, yeah, just. He was fine. No, I can't argue with that. I can't. I mean, the MVP is already on his resume. The World Series Championship is on his resume. and then just the hitting champion.

Batting three batting titles, all that type of stuff. And then you just add what he does in the postseason. And for all the love that we had for Craig Biggio and Jeff Baguio, them combined. They never did what Jose Altuve did in the postseason. I mean, it's just not close. And it's small sample sizes and all that and blah, blah,

you're going up against great pitchers and Kevin Brown is really tough. I get it. But Jose Altuve is going against some really good pitchers himself. Or oldest Chapman is one of the best closers in the game. And he's getting it done. Skares me, and I'm in the third role of the press box. Let me ask you this. You know how I like to play second-guessing in baseball?

Should Aaron Boone have walked, Jose Al-Tube, you had Jake Moriznick in the batters box. You could have gone to Kyle Tucker, but lefty versus lefty. First of all, Kyle Tucker's looked like a hot mess this entire postseason. A roll is his left-handed pitcher against a left-handed pitcher. against the left-handed bat, 100 miles an hour. There were two outs, right?

Yeah, yeah, but you would have put the tying run at second, but you'd put Springer at second. So any base hit of any kind of contact, as long as it was not a line drive type of hit, that got right to the, you'd have the infielders, you'd have the outfielders in, clearly. Would you have walked Jose Altovae to take your chances

a roll-as Chapman against Jake Mariznick? It's a great second. can guess. Yeah, that's what Nick Totoro wanted. Did he? I didn't even look at his Twitter. I took yesterday off from Twitter. Really? Yeah, I didn't, I didn't single tweet in favor, didn't do anything. Here's, uh, Nick DeTuro's thoughts, uh, our buddy Nick DeTurro's thoughts on why, uh, the decision wasn't made to, to, uh, to walk Al Tubei and send, uh, Jake Marissa to the plate. F*** speechless, man. Speechless. I cannot believe after you tied the game.

that would you withdraw that pitch with a two in one count with a guy on deck that was nothing. How could you go down like that? How could you go down like that? You just tied the game. With a guy on deck that was nothing in the words of Nick Situro.

What do you think? Answer my question. What do you think? Because that's the very first thing I thought is am I going to take my chances against one of the best hitters this decade? or am I going to walk him and take my chances of putting the

winning run at the second base for Jake Mariznick? Because Diaz has already been pulled because he got, you remember he pinch hit for Alvarez. I think you count on your guy to get him out and then you don't put extra people on base and put somebody into scoring position.

That would be a walk-off situation for Jake, yes? Oh, absolutely. Again, any base at any level. I would think about it more if you were up. I'm not going to worry about it because the decision was made. And El Tubei took it to the left field. By the way, our buddy in spring must have hated it because it was an outside pitch and he didn't take it that direction.

He pulled it out of the yard. Oh, yeah, that's true. 713-212-5-7-90. Come celebrate this Astros victory. We've got press conferences at 130, but two with both A.J. Hinch and Gary Cole. You'll hear that. We got Ross's NFL recap coming up at 220 today. And Rossi, I frankly was ambivalent to the Texans yesterday.

the only one that felt that way. Bill O'Brien seemed pretty ambivalent as well. And by the way, it wasn't Bill O'Brien's fault they lost. I mean, the timeouts and the timing, I mean, it wasn't done fluidly, but they still had a minute 39 left from the clock with a chance to win the game, or at least tie the football game. So this whole thought of, well, if he better use his timeouts, they would have won. No, it was interception to end the game.

No fear. No worries. And no hair. It's the Matt Thomas Way. Houston Sports Talk continues with the Matt Thomas show. There'll be a 2-1 to Al-Tubei. Swung on and hit on the end of the end of the deep left. It is high. It is far.

In the series, Jose Al-Tube, hit a two-run, home run. The Astros win six, four. And they capture the series four games to do. And the place is going absolutely. Bananas. You know, give John Sterling credit the voice of the Yankees. He was quite energetic on the Astros call. Good for him.

It is high. It is far. It's an L-Tube. And the Astros win. The Astros win. The Yankees lose. One might, you know, look, John Sterling has been a broadcaster for a long time. The most, and look, he's done the Braves.

He's done the Yankees forever. Yeah. The one thing I can't get out of my mind is that the New York Post when I was there a few years ago, got a picture of him taking his index finger and licking a dessert in the Yankees media dining area. I mean, that's not the way you're supposed to think about your all-time great broadcasters, right? He's not great. You're right, but I just want to try to be. Cheeseball.

Yeah. Bananas. Bananas. Oh, my gosh. Thanks. The worst part was they did a story about him on inside, uh, right? Real Sports with Bryant Gumble. It wasn't like he's this genuine beloved soul. It was like, this is a guy that likes to over-embellish calls, make up calls, and it's more about him than the game. Sounds like Craig Ackerman on a Rocket.

No, I'm just teasing. I'm just teasing. I'm just teasing you. I'm just teasing you. By the way, the rocket start this week. What a time. Let me give you the rundown of the great moments in sports this week. You got UHSMU on Thursday.

Yes. You've got Rockets versus Millie Walk A Bucks on Thursday. Huge. And you got Astros World Series which starts tomorrow. Wow. What a time to be alive.

And look at all the people that are excited to talk some Astros baseball on the phones right now. Let's go to the phones. Line three, you excited about the Astros? That technical issue there. Line four, you're on Al Pennant Talk. Hmm. Maybe people are upset about the Texans game

more than they are about the Astros winning. Maybe people want to talk. about Texas's gutted out win in a rivalry game against Kansas. How embarrassed were you won the 10 on that? You won the game, so the answer should be no more than about six. It's about eight. Really? They're 21-point favorites, Matthew.

I sat next to Julian Morales, who is one of the more famous Texas alum's beside yourself here. She's much more famous than me. Well, I didn't want to be rude. And she's like, I don't want to watch this. I don't want to think about it. I said, well, hold on, let me put on my phone. Oh, wow. And I said, because they scored the touchdown to tie the game or at 40, no, it was 47, 46.

And I said, I said, Lus is going for two. And he did. And they scored it rather easily, frankly. Yeah, they scored everything rather easily. They scored 40 points. Clutch Dicker the kicker, knocked at home, split the uprights, your squad with a hard-fought Big 12 victory. Thank goodness. Tom Herman has kept up the tradition of prioritizing good kickers.

All right. So the Astros, I just said it. I said it on Saturday. I'll say it again, the Astros have won all-time great. Numerous awesome players, numerous retired jerseys, Hall of Fame. With what Jose Al-Tubei did, he is the greatest astro of all time. You want to fight me on it? Ross, you ain't fighting with me.

I can respect that. Okay, no. You and I debate things all the time. Yes, I disagree with you all quite often with your bad takes, but this is, this one is good. This is a great take of mine. He's the greatest. I can't. And you know, here's a great thing about him.

is that, Ross, you know, he came to the Astros on $15,000, right, original son. He, and I know, not that I sent him home the first time he worked out. Not that he and I are friends. Not that he, I mean, I don't, you know, with my world of sports, I don't get to chum up to guys in the clubhouse like I used to many years ago, of all things that are going on now. But he appears to me not to be a single bit different today than he was, say, seven or eight years ago when he was just grinding to be lucky enough to make it to the major leagues.

he might be the purely nicest human being alive or at least athlete yeah you go off with Tony Kemp number one I would put you know the priest obviously John Paul up there the Pope the Pope yeah I got put the Pope up there

okay but I don't think he's changed and do you know how many hundreds of thousands of athletes become complete divas and a-holes after they make money and get fame 99.9% of him he's in that point one category

He just seems like such a sweetheart. I mean, he's wearing like pregame and shirts that when it says be yourself unless you can be Bregman, be Bregman. Justin Verlander just gets here. I literally love Justin Verlander. Justin Verlander's been interviewed and talked about how Al Tuve is the leader of the clubhouse and all this stuff. I mean, he's, did you see what happened with his jersey when he was on the way home? Do you see that story? Yeah.

Like telling him, he's telling them not to rip off his jersey because it made his wife mad last time. Because everybody on Twitter, the last time he got his shirt ripped off, all the girls on Twitter. were swooning, and apparently that upset Jose Al-Tube. Mrs. Altova won't no part of that. She didn't care for it. So Jose Al-Tuve is like in the middle of the greatest swing of the bat he's ever had in his life. He's thinking about his wife and making her happy. Like, what a sweetheart?

Just love Jose Al-Tuve. It's not only as he a sweetheart. He's an exceptional player. I felt terribly how bad he tried to gut it out against the Red Sox last year. He was clearly on one leg. I mean, let's just be honest. He just wasn't the same player. But his kneecap was falling off, apparently.

So you got an American League pennant champion in your city And now it's time for the nationals And I'm very excited We're going to have press conference starting up in an hour from now It's you and me to wrestle away with Ross and Nick 713, 212 5, 790 It's just time to brag By the way, tomorrow, the double crush bus opens the show at 12 o'clock

Because it is a game of the world series Wonderful And we're on to remind you all the games right here on 790 Tomorrow's on deck We'll start at 5, but it'll be a part of the 8 team at 3 Adam and Adam are going to be down at home plate bar and run. I'll join those guys at 5 o'clock. And they'll do the 10th and make show after that for game one.

Wonderful. All right, let's go the phone. 713, 21, 2, 5, 790. Patson, Katie, on AL Championship Talk. Hello, Pat. Hey, nice day, Adam. Hey, it is our two-day hands down, you know, the best-assco player ever.

But, you know, when he was running around the bases, man, they showed Chapman's face. They must have had every camera in the stadium on him. And he had the silliest looking grin on his face. I mean, but you're giving up the game-winning home run. I mean, y'all didn't see that? Oh, absolutely. We did.

Thank you for the phone call and enjoy your liquid lunch. Here's the fact, Ross, is that sometimes when you're in a very bad position, this is human nature. Sometimes people chuckle. Yeah. Have you ever been admonished at work? or let's say that something happened at school or your girlfriend caught you a DMing another friend of your

I mean you're supposed to be remorseful and sad and yet you're chuckling I would do that all the time Oh, ask my mother I used to make her so mad when she'd start yelling I mean I'd start laughing oh I think for sure he wasn't happy that's not saying that's an understatement I just

He's sitting there in the middle of a pitcher's mound with 43,000 people screaming, millions of people watching on television, fireworks are going off, all sorts of confetti, I think it was the natural thing to go, oh my God, look where I am,

look what I've just done, and I'm going to go in the locker room in the clubhouse and cry like a baby, but for now, I can't let him see you sweat, although it rolled his Chapman always sweats. Would you say then they were tears of a clown? He's laughing to keep from crying, Matthew.

That feels like a song coming up in the next segment of the show. It just does. Look at Nick already on YouTube. Michael Brantley here. Get 790. Get your stroves on the radio. Sports Sox 790. You're home for the Astros.

Speechless, man. Speechless. How did you go down like that? You're just tied the game. Never anything wrong with a little smoky on a Monday. from Friday I don't know if you know You've never seen the movie Friday have you had you?

I've not Oh my goodness I'm missing out on all-time greatness World Series line by the way This is from Betonline.orgie I don't know if it's legit or not Sure

Astros are minus 220 to win the World Series Meaning you've got to spend 220 to one 100 Nationals are plus 190 So for those of you that are new to betting You have to spend 100 to win 190. Either team sweep plus 600, yes.

Noah's minus 800. And by the way, let me say. Astros in four, seven to one odds. Astros in five, five to one. Astros in six, seven to two odds. Astros in seven, four to one. What's your first blush say on this one? Astros in six.

Me too. Me too. By way, I almost got the final score right there. You united the show on Saturday. I had six three. is 6-4. We both had 6-3. So I think we're actually agreeing way too much lately. And the game before that,

I had, or not two games before that, I guess I had 5 to 1 and they went 4 to 1, right? Yeah, and you also had Yuleiguriel being a big part of it too. I did. That's good. Yeah, and then the game, the time we did it before that, I had Josh Redick and he hit a home run. So the last two times I picked the key to a win, they hit a home run. It's working well for you. 713-212-790.

7-1-3-1-2-5-790. The number one question for AJ going to this, the bullpen game will work, not referred. We saw at work. Is who in the, where is, Jordan Alvarez? I'm asking literally. Rossi, he looks so completely out of sorts.

He looks like you just can't play him. It's bad. I mean, he got pinch hit for, and it was because of the lefty matchup with Zach Britton. Maybe he would have stayed in against Arrides. But he got pinch hit at the end of that game. If he was right, no matter what, whether or what hand the pitcher had, he would not have been pinched hit for.

Yeah, there's no chance. A normal Jordan Alvado, our buddy, he would have stayed in the ball game. There's no chance, no way, no how he gets pitch in for, except for the fact that AJ was just, I've done enough. I've gone as far as I can. Short of him going four for five in games one and two of this series, which I don't think is likely considering the pitching matchups, I don't know that we're going to see him in D.C.

Especially because Corbyn, I'm presuming it would start either three or four, is a lefty. So that really helps the cause. Scherzer and Strasbourg, whatever combination they go with. I don't know if it's been officially announced yet, but... I think the general thinking is they're going Scherzer first. Yeah, I think you're right. 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-2-1-2-5-790. Let's go to Roger and Magnolia on 790. Hello, Roger. Hey, how you doing? I'm good. Don't pick one of the best clutch hitters in baseball, all of baseball ever to pitch to. in that situation. He is such a clutch hitter.

I thought, and I think why he had a spark on his face that he made a mistake, I don't believe he ever intended to put the ball in the strike zone. If Springer or Al-Tuvae would have swung at bad pitches, I would have pitched to him. And I would have thought they would have challenged Springer before they did Al-Tube. But I would have definitely pitched to Jake Marizanick,

even though, you know, that wasn't a, you know, pass a couple of guys that kind of makes the other guy stay more on the ball. He wants to really get a hit. But, you know, what do you think? I mean, I know you were...

I mean, I don't think I'm going to hedge anymore. If I'm Yankee fan, and I'm looking at light-hitting Jake Mariznick in the on-deck circle against one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball for the last decade, Is it a no-brainer? No.

It's not a no-brainer because you're saying... You're saying, or all this Chapman can get this guy out? You're saying we're not putting in scoring position, the winning, the game-winning run, putting it in scoring position. Let me, let's just think of it from a Yankee perspective. I have one of the best closers in the game.

I throw, he throws 100 miles an hour and doesn't even bat an eyelash. Jose Altoube has the history of showing 100 miles, can hit 100-mile-pitches because he's just an exceptional hitter. Jake Mariznick is Jake Mariznick. Now, would it be extraordinarily more painful to see Jake Mariznick score the winning run against you? Because your closer is supposed to be way, way, way greater than Astros pinch hitter? But there's baseball drama all the time.

Yeah, I could. I mean, there's a scenario where you walk him and then Jake Mariznick hits like a, you know, fists a soft liner over the, over the infield, and then the game's over. And then you're saying, why did you put him on base? You know, there's just a way to second. You can second guess everything in these games. Okay. In these close games. Yeah. So let's just take the individual second guess on this one particular play.

Mm-hmm. And it's crazy. We say this because we know the end result. But it was the very, and I'm not lying to you on this. It was the very first thing I thought of is Wang putting the winning run at second base with a guy in Good Speed and Springer, opposite a guy in Jake Moriznick, who hasn't really except the one hit against Paxon he had in the series. Really showing any, I mean, you're supposed to think, you know how you're talking about

always playing the percentages? Yes. The percentages would be an overwhelming favor of a Chapman out over a Mariznick hit, would it not? I mean, the favorite is that Hotel Tuva is going to get out as well. I mean, he doesn't bat over 500. But the human angle on that is who's a way more accomplishing? Well, you can't go numbers and then go human angle on me.

I'm going to do it for my show. I'm going to tell you right now, I'm going to do it that way. Okay. Yeah. That if I'm thinking human, Mariznick is as the pinch hitter, I'm going to do it. take my chances and saying, all right, Jake, you beat me as compared to a guy that's absolutely done it before. Okay, well, you could, you say, or all this Chapman is really good, he can get this guy out.

That's what they're thinking. And when it was happening in the moment, I wasn't thinking, I didn't even think for a second about intentionally walking. And I'm not, in that moment, they didn't cross my mind. And I'm in, I am far from the thinking in advance mind, but that's the first thing I said, because again, I was staring at. I was like, who's coming up after this? Jake.

And then I see Jake Bristening. I know, because at first I was like, okay, Brantley's next. It starts the next inning if he gets out. And then I was like, wait a minute. No. Then they showed Jake Moristic and the on-deck circle like, oh, yeah, that's right. Did the TV broadcast bring it up at all? Well, no, no, I don't know if they did because I was in a sports bar. I couldn't hear all the commentary.

I don't know. But again, I don't want to do that. I don't want to be second-guess guy because sometimes when we second-guess on the radio, we always tend to justify what the manager or the coaches says. I think we've second-guessed Bill O'Brien a lot. And more times than that, we probably take his side. We've second-guess AJ Hinch a lot. We've second-guess Mike Dent.

I mean, we are, our life is sports talk host and they have a second guess. It's just weird that we actually watch somebody else and having them decide. Like the last time I remember the two of us, and I'm sure there have been other times, the last time I remember us going, wow, what the hell was he thinking? Was Frank Reich going for and not going for settling for the tie for the Colts and the Texans last year? Of us going, what was he thinking? Yeah, you're thinking that in the moment. And, I mean, what happened was that I think we are, there is a little bit of hindsight here

because what happened was the absolute worst scenario. unless Altuve is going to hit a double in the gap that Springer can get home or a home run. Every other scenario has Jake Marizick at bat if Jose Altuve walks or gets a single. I mean, or you can get him out. The absolute worst thing happened. That's not what you're, that's not what Aaron Boom is planning on. No. That's why I think he's, I wonder if Aeroldus is like, man, why am I throwing a pitch to him, period.

I mean, you could do the unintentional, intentional walk. That's true. To be brutally honest on that. Maybe you get Jose to chase something. You didn't chase it. 1243. It is the Matt Thomas show. 713212-5-790.

7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90. More of your phone calls. We'll hear from A.J. Hinch at 130 at Gary Cole in that half hour as well. And then Ross's NFL recap on a busy weekend of the NFL. And as I said on Twitter earlier today, and we'll jump in this very quickly when we come back. I was kind of ambivalent to yesterday. And I think it's not because the Texans.

It's just because I was just, mentally fatigued and being on the edge of my seat for six hours Saturday night. Stop that wave. Busting the wave since the stroves were in the dome. Who are you going to call? Wave busters. Houston Sports Talk continues with the Matt Thomas show. I am happy that the wave has stopped.

Thank God. They did it in Tampa and see what happened to them. They got their series beating five. right there. So we're some Astros fans trying to do it in the ALDS. Yeah, we behaved ourselves in the ELCS. Did we now? I don't know.

I wasn't there. No. Well, World Series. If you are doing the wave, here's the rule. If you try to do the wave, it's automatic ejection from the facility. That's, that's fan on fan violence. You should make it as penalized as people throwing trash onto the field. Yeah.

Things you can't do. Swear, throw trash. attempt the wave. Throw beers at Astros fans and urinals. Did you see that, did you see the guy that had to be escorted out a few games ago? Yeah. Lance McCullors is going to hook him up with tickets. That's good.

I saw that. And he was a song on the news as well. So here's the question. Would you take verbal abuse from New York fans for World Series tickets? He got a beer thrown in his face and popcorn. I mean, it's kind of a win for him. I guess so. Right?

I think in that game, he got escorted to better seats as well. So just don't answer the question. Just think about as you're driving around Houston right now. Verbal abuse, beer thrown on you. Major League pitcher wants you to sit in his seats for a World Series game. Don't answer the question. Just ponder it in your own mind. Okay, I'll ponder, Matthew.

Wayne to the fan. 713-212-5-790. Let's go to West Houston. Maryland on 7-90. Hello, Maryland. Good. What's going on? Well, I just, everybody's covered just about everything. everything that I always wanted to say.

I'm a first time caller. I'm a little nervous. But I just got the best birthday present anybody could have. It was the best day ever. And I asked her, all I wanted for my birthday was to ask them to win. And they did. So I thank them profusely. And I can't wait for the series.

All right. Congratulations. It's rude to ask how old somebody is on their birthday, so I won't ask that. but how are you going to celebrate? Oh, that's okay. I'm 71. 71. You don't sound 71, Maryland.

Right on TV. I'm trying to stay young. That's for sure. Well, from all of us here, Matt, Ross, Nick, the Sports Talk 790 family, happy birthday and go Astros. Is that good enough? Thank you so much. Absolutely.

Go stroves. See you later. Another Beatles classic. It's my birthday, too, yeah. You say it's your birthday. We're going to have a good time to a classic. The profundity in these lyrics just off the charts. Oh, is that right?

Is it compared the lyrics the last 30 years? Just mess with you, Matt. It's a good song. It's catchy. I think it's highly illegal for us to play this. Nice little rock and roll jam, probably. That's fine. If you're going to send a cease and a since?

I think happy birthday is illegal. What do you mean? I don't think you can have. the song. You ever knows when you go to a restaurant? People don't sing happy birthday to you. They always do different versions of it. Like when you go to TGI Fridays, they always get all the guys, all the bling.

Yeah. And they just do it. Happy, Happy, Happy. Preet, birthday to you, you, you. Texas Roadhouse, they start doing this weird little jingle they have. Yeah. I don't think it's legal for restaurants to really use the song. Happy Birthday.

Is that right? Why would I make that up? It seems like you're making that up. Play some more of this. She's very used to being played. December 19 We're playing this December 19 Nick, when's yours?

January 16. Okay. We got the two years. Apparently it's been okay since 2016. Oh, so it has changed. I guess so. All right. 713, the things you learn on this radio show.

Let's go to Michael in Spring on 790. Michael, good afternoon. Hey, how are you doing? Well. Hey, I'm with y'all, Maryland. sounds way younger than 71. There you go. It seemed about right to me.

Stop it. It's an extraordinary time to be in Houston, man. Two years ago, I was at Stamford Hospital with my son and watched Golden State win. I was like, wow, this is terrible. But then we ended up moving over here, and he ended up being hospitalized Texas children. And we were watching the World Series on the TV in the room when it won, and it was phenomenal. and, you know, just growing up here and seeing everything as this organization's been built up, it's just, wow, they're making all these moves, and it was headlines,

and everybody around the country was just slamming us. But we turned this around. It's just a beautiful masterpiece of a team. Al-Tubei, hands down, is the best all-time great Astro, but what is y'all's opinion, what is y'all's opinion on Jordan Al-Vos? Perez versus the playoffs versus the regular season. It's a hot mess. Thank you for the phone call.

You can't, there's no possible shirt code. He's been awful. He looks like he's lost his confidence. He looks like he's not seeing pitches at all. It's not, it's bad. There's a physical giddy-up that's not there. Or you mean the other way? No, no.

It's not physical. It's mental. Is that what you're saying? No, I think it's physical. I think there's something. He's hurt? No, no, no, no. I think there's something a mechanical.

Mental would be, I'm just, oh, my God, I'm afraid of the moment. I think there's something. I think there's a mental issue, yeah. I think there's a lack of confidence. I think, yeah. But when you have a mechanical hitch, that's going to inspire a mental, oh my God, here we go again.

So do you see him in the game one or two? Yes. I think he'll play in both these games. I do. He's got to write the ship or he will not play in Washington. He will not know it. He'll have as many at bats in Washington, D.C. as I will next week. I don't think they're going to play him in Washington.

because of the D.H. I got to put him in left field. No, no, no, no. Because you can't take a defensive liability at all in the World Series, much less a guy that's not. I mean, I would, Rossi, it would have to be, I mean, I just can't even see him playing one game,

at least from a starting perspective, unless he comes out with six hits and the first two games the World Series. Yeah, that's what I'm. Say he crushes three home runs in the first two games. Okay, you can stop. You can stop. He'll play.

I think even then he will, he'll sit some in Washington. I think he pinch hits in the series. I don't think he starts a game. Yeah, that sounds about right. And how in the world, again, maybe he goes to the Springer card. Remember how Springer was in 2017? Couldn't have been any more of a liability. In fact, he even struck out a bunch of the game one of the world series.

And then after that, he just kept popping home runs. There's the glass half full guy talking. George Springer had more of a major league track record than you ordered it. We're talking about a rookie here. Yeah, we are talking about a rookie, but also a guy who was, I mean, he was just, out of this world good for so long. And I kept waiting for, during the season, you know, he came up and he was hot and we knew what he did at AAA.

At the end of the day, most of the time, a rookie falls back to Earth. And I just got to the point where I guess I was like, well, I guess he's never going to fall back to Earth, but now we're seeing it. Oh, yeah, he's really has fallen back to Earth. I mean, it's, and it's too bad because you keep rooting for him. He's such a likable guy. You keep hoping he's going to have that one big moment that goes, oh, deep sigh of relief. it just hasn't happened.

It's tough. It's really, really tough. It's the Matt Thomas show. I was just thanking God for the opportunity to go to another war series. And thanks everybody in the ballpark because you guys are the bigger reason why we're here. And my team mates, my team mates, they're the MVP of the game. Maybe the nicest athlete in the history of athletes in Houston, Texas. Is there any, is there any BS to him at all?

I don't think so. Because, I mean, look, I love JJ. Yeah, I mean. Amazing charity fundraiser. Uh-huh. Good guy takes care of kids, but there's a little BS to him a little bit. Yeah. Not much.

Again, he's off my, I'm never going to criticize him because what he helped in terms of getting people taking care of for Harvey. But, man, Jose Altoube is genuine. I think so. I've never in my, like, and I'm telling you this. I'm pinning the curtain back on this sports rv. I've never heard. God, Jose Altuvae, he's this, you know, very humble, very appreciative, low-key guy. But, man, you ought to see him when the door's closed.

Right. I have never heard that. Now, he may be that person. No. But I've never heard it. I don't like so. I've heard it with just about every athlete that you would think would be this. Oh, he is the nicest one ever.

There's a little BS component. There's a little BS component to everybody. This show. This show after 3 o'clock. We're full BS. Yeah, don't get me started on Nick Lowe. I mean, goodness. All right, 713, 212-790.

7-1-3-212-5-790. It is the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790. Let's go to Jody in Sugarland at 104. Jody, how are you? Congratulations, your team won the American League. Yay! Ghostros! Very pumped.

First off, I just wanted to say my husband was reading online that Chapman said Altuve had been hitting singles off to him. And so he felt very confident, you know, going in and pitching to him. Because when he was up at bat, I was surprised he was pitching on him just like everybody else was. But that was his thinking, at least from what he had said online. But we're going to D.C. And so we're going to be watching the game there. And I wanted to know if you know of any good places where there'll be hopefully more Astros fans watching the game. Like any good bars or any good places to go.

You know what? I've only been to D.C. a handful of times in my life. And it's really in just one little area. So I, and I consider myself a pretty good travel guy. but in this particular case, I cannot give you much on Washington, D.C. at all. We usually stay. The two areas that I've stayed at before that both have lots of restaurants and lots of good places to hang out, I just don't know if there's going to be a huge congregation of astrophans,

Pentagon City and in the Georgetown area. So it's rather spread out, to be honest with you. I've never been in National's Park before, so I couldn't even tell you what's in and around there either. So unfortunately, Jody, I can't help you with this. I'm assuming that anybody that's an Astros fan is probably staying as close to the can of the ballpark. And if you aren't in around that ballpark before first pitch, you will find people wearing orange jerseys. And I'd trust those people. Yeah, we're going to go.

We're going. We're totally decked out. Got my nails done. Oh, that's a key. That is a key. Getting the nails done, for sure. Oh, simply glam in new territory. Rocked my nails.

Okay. They are incredible. You need to let them know that they need to charge us. We're going to charge them $140 for that many. attention. Thanks, John. And I hope you have a good time there. I guess you're doing the Rockets game. I am. I'll be up there. Thank you very much for the phone call. I appreciate it. You know, it's going to be really, really weird. The Rockets' first road trip starts in Washington, D.C.

So I looked at my calendar. A little feet of the mind here. Well, okay. I can see it. Matt is flipping up in his calendar. October. There's a lot of scribbles in there. 29th. We are flying from Houston to Washington. in the afternoon. I'm going to be in theory, maybe watching game six of the Astros and the Nationals in Washington, D.C., while the rest of you will be here in Houston. It's totally ironic, totally peculiar, but it's going to be surreal because either I will be celebrating to a group of very few people,

because people in Washington are going to watch the game, or I'll be the lone guy going, oh, this sucks. I'm in the town when they win the World Series. I know you can do. So you'll be in D.C. in the Astro, that would be game. Six and the actual will be here. Yeah, game seven, the Rockets. Game seven is a week from Wednesday, in theory, rockets, rockets, Wizards, and Astros Nationals on the same day. Why don't you go watch it with She Jack?

Will she be in D.C.? Is Congress in Cession? There we go. It's Congress in session. Southern boys. You can go talk about them Southern boys. You can go to a sports bar with Sheila Jackson Lee. Al-Tooey.

Okay. I don't talk politics on the show ever. Rarely. Rarely. I shouldn't say ever. Never. Can you, let me just, let me just, can I have 30 seconds of myself on this one? Please, please, please, please, Miss Lee.

And I'll call you Miss Lee. It's respectful. Do not show up at anything Astros related ever again. We don't want you at the parade. We don't want you at City Hall. We don't want you. What's the fountains in front of City Hall called? where they always have the little parties and stuff.

The fountains in front of City Hall. Yeah, okay. The City Hall Fountains. There's an area. It's called something. Okay. We want you nowhere near it. You can't name five Astros.

Al-Tooey. Al-Tooey. You haven't been to a game in which you haven't received a free ticket. You're annoying. And we only see you at sporting events when you can go and put your face out there because they're winning and there's lots of eyeballs watching the other guys. Southern boys.

Clout chasing, as they call it, Matthew. Do not speak on C-SPAN 1 or 2. I don't know what channel they're on. But please, Miss Lee, stay away from the Houston. Matter of fact, stay away from all Houston sports teams. Strabista, bros. Thanks, Jose.

Thank you, Jose for having my back on that one. I'm pretty good. Am I right or wrong? You know, you're right, yeah. But you can ask her not to be in front of the cameras all you want. It's going to happen. If there's a parade again, she will be there. So I think you guys should hang out, have a nice cold beverage.

Or you can hang out with Donnie T. Is it going to be over there? You know what she should do, honestly? Just how about gather and have a party for all of her constituents? Serve hot dogs and chili and Frito pie and cake and some dessert or some drinks. And that's how you do it. You don't do it by chasing after them in a parade. and miss pronouncing her names it's going to happen because the entire city's eyes will be on that parade

but at least i know i've done my civic duty here and telling her not to show up she's going to she's not going to listen to you l2y by the way ATX hobo girl says how do we feel about waves at watch parties we're against them uh that doesn't bother me as much at a watch party it's kind of weird yeah who is that let's describe who that person is at start starts the wave at a watch party. Gene shorts, long hair. Backwards cap. Backwards cap.

Got some sort of tobacco in their mouth that hasn't been cleaned out. Probably hadn't brushed their teeth in three to four days. Credit score about 540. A slight tinge of body odor. And back pay on their rent. Yeah. Yes, that is confirmed. Thanks, Brock.

Amazing Grace says they tried to start the wave a few times on Saturday, but it did not take. Hashtag stop the wave. There you go. See, it's been happening. That's wrong. I swear to God. I will be in Washington, D.C., and I will take a plane back to Houston to literally stop the wave if I have to.

Yeah, well, you're in Washington. Maybe you try to get a bill passed. No war waving. No waves. Maybe I should go see the president. Yes. And tell him, I know there's a lot of issues going on with your impeachment. Syria.

Syria and the wall and the economy. There's issues with his chief of staff or something. It's very confusing. MSNBC hate you. But let's get to the... The fake news media? Yeah. You're part of the fake news media though, Matt.

Why? Let's get to the real thing. President Trump, you want to be reelected? Stop the wave! I was waiting for a Trump sound bite there. I thought we were going to go on. That's okay, though. Timing's okay.

We're going to build the wall. We have no choice. The right field wall? I love this country. If the right field wall were about two feet higher, then the... Who is it? Gardner? Who is that home?

was LeMayhew? I can't remember. Yeah. Oh, the ninth inning you're talking about? Yeah. Who was that? Was it the home run? Are you going to include the congressional black? LaMayhew. LeMayhew. A lot of LSU people in that stadium that day. Between him and Bregman, Will Harris? Truly Harris, yes. By the way, can we, we can feel better about billpen games, right? They ain't easy to watch, but they still can work. Not a lot. Well, you'd like Osuna to have closed down.

And you knew you're playing for the bullpen game. Wade Miley. Thanks. No need for a great job of skippering. All right. Astros, buddy. You of H grad. Tex-Mex connoisseur.

Well, is there anybody more Houston than Matt Thomas? No way. Back to the Matt Thomas show. It's 119. Bottom of the hour. We will have, uh, when 130 will have the AJ Hinch press conference. I think it's AJ than Garrett, or it could be flip-flop. It depends.

Does it really matter who goes first? It doesn't matter. So we're going to play both those for you between 1.30 and 3. Doesn't matter, Matt. Or two. Doesn't matter. AFC South second place. Ross, why have we been so ambivalent on the Texan so far today?

Because the a assos are going to the World Series. Yeah, that's much more important than getting your ass kicked up at Lucas Hoyle again. But it wasn't an ass kick. It was just another loss. It was just yet another one. You know, there are three and 15 lifetime in that city. The Colts were clearly the better team in that game, though. By the way, anybody that wants to take shots that Jacoby Percette, that's false.

He tore up now, granted, the Texan secondary is beat up and not good. But Jacobi doesn't look like a guy that's been had a handful of starts in his NFL life. He looks like he is now a ready to be a mainstream NFL starter. It was very good. And the Colts were good or at least good enough to beat the Texans who once again, I picked wrong for like a sixth time this year. You never know what you're going to get with that team, Matt. Me too. it's almost becoming comical how we do this.

All right, so let's quickly. The play calling was fine. I mean, not great, but it's Bill O'Brien. He's never going to take the Super Bowl, so it's really, it's a mood conversation. The timeout usage was a little odd. The taking the safety wasn't the problem, it was that Mr. Anger decided he wanted to have some indecisiveness.

If you're going to go for the safety, just run right behind yourself and go out of bounds and go the two points. Call it good. He wasted time by doing that. Now, time ultimately didn't have a factor in the game because Deshaun throws the interception to end the game. So they still have plenty of time left on the clock. The thing to me, the two main culprits of the problem on Sunday were, Rossi, that one, the secondary was atrocious. And two, the Texans couldn't get out of their own way.

Very undisciplined with the amount of penalties, holds illegal formations. Yeah, how do you have to, I think it was the first drive they had two illegal formations? Oh, my. Like, how? You're asking Skipper to come in as an eligible receiver, and either he's never done it before or doesn't have enough practice in doing it, you have to go tell the official because your number is not an eligible receiver number, what you're doing.

He's also a yard back of the line, which makes him an eligible receiver, provided that he's checked in properly. Formational breakdowns. Holdings, Benardrick. Benardrick, with a 15-yard penalty and then a clap of the hands after going, either I sucked or I should applaud my side. because no one else is applauding me. That was a play after Jacoby Brissette went for a slide and he

kind of threw a little forearm out there that I was surprised didn't get called. I don't know. They're on this one. They're one of the most. People hate penalties in the NFL. You know why? Because you're watching more of the Texans than anybody else. The Colts were like, as Trent Green said, the fourth least penalized team in the NFL, the Texans are top five.

That's why you hate penalties in the NFL because every time you watch your team, they're the ones committing penalties. Monica on 790 at 122. Monica, good afternoon. It's my own need for baby What's going down Matt Thomas You found a defog hell

What's going down baby I've been listening for years And you sound fun of dinner What's going on? Hello Hello I'm just writing your phone number down So I can call you after the show

Oh baby That sounds good See I want to talk about that Y'all everybody talks crazy about Osuna He'd be all right baby Oh boy He just do one too many Bitches

To me If you want to call Monica Offair or Greg, whatever his name is, his number is 337. Oh, right. What? Four. I was hoping. I was waiting for that. Here come the Astros, burning with design.

Here come the Astros bring an orange pie. Here come the Astros. It's winning on that line. Here come the Astros number one every time. Oh, no, my strong. All right, there we go. There's a contingent of people that don't like that song, Matthew. Yeah, Clear Creek High School.

I love y'all. You're doing fine by me. And by way, we will not play it at the end of the – this is a strictly postseason. Because if we played it in January, it would get kind of doing. It might be a little too much. All right, let's go to Chris in the Woodlands at 124. Chris? That, how you doing?

Well. Hey, first off, three to one says Monaco with the guy. Three to one, please. You're getting one to eight odds on that, my friend. Well, I was calling about Yordon Alvarez. I'm a big Yordon fan. I know he's had his struggles as of late. But do you think Hinch is going to let him swing his way out of his issues,

or do you think he's going to resort to, you know, Jake Marizn next? for one of the other platoon guys we've got, and I'll hang up to listen. Thank you for the phone call. You know what? There's really no reason to guess anymore because AJ is going to talk about it. I guarantee you, a Yorlon Alvarez questions coming into play, right? I would imagine.

What does your gut tell you? I think he's going to say, I'm going to give him a chance. He's going to start game one and we'll go from there. I think he'll go with him. That's just a pure guess on my part. Your other options are Preston Tucker, Aledmas Diaz? Or Kyle. Preston, I mean, isn't available. Preston Tucker.

Preston Tucker would be a real surprise to see him in the lineup. don't you think? Especially when you're not in the organization. Maybe you're really laid out on to the World Series roster. All right, fine. Kyle Tucker. Look, this is not just about Alvarez. This is Alvarez, Reddick.

This is 789, Torino slash Maldonado. I mean, it's the bottom. I mean, this is, not even it's like the top six are crushed. This is an Astros team that is winning with really good pitching and some amazing, dramatic at bats. Timely hitting. But pound for pound regular doing their thing during the course of the game? Not so much. Yeah, they haven't scored more than, well, some eight's the most they scored in that game.

And then how many of those were earned? I think only five of them. Crazy. Let's go to the Astros and their press conferences next 126 on Sports Talk 790. Coup was an incredible man that everybody looked forward to seeing on the field. And unfortunately, when you go to Google a picture about Coop, it's like me and him yelling at each other. Because that's the nature of the interaction that you guys get.

to see on the field. But the brotherhood that we have in our game is important, and it extends to the umpires and to his family. So a tragic loss for baseball. And I wanted to make sure and then offer some condolences. Thank you, AJ. He was a great man. We will start on your right with Chandler. AJ, have you guys finalized your roster yet? You know, I just came out of a meeting just like last time and we've talked a little bit about if we're going to make any changes or how many changes or quite honestly the health of Ryan Presley is going to be key in those decisions he's going to he's going to do some things on the field today hopefully get off the mound he's feeling better we anticipate him being available

and being ready to go but until we clear him as active we're going to we're going to have to hold off on our roster we won't announce anything till tomorrow anyway but there could be a change or two either based on on health or based on And one other question. Yordon obviously struggled pretty mightily in the ALCS. How do you envision deploying him in the World Series, and do you expect him to play every game? Yeah, he's going to DH in bat seventh tomorrow. You know, I believe in Yordaun. I know I hit for him at the end of game six and the ALCS and the bases loaded against Britain. That's not an indictment of my belief in him or the fact that we don't think he could have done well.

We had a terrific matchup with Diaz, but we get to wipe the slate clean. He gets to start all over again in the World Series, and he's going to be facing some elite pitching. We need him to be good to be at our best. And I look forward to him, DH in both game one and two. And we'll see what happens when we get to Washington. We'll stay here at the second round. Hey, AJ.

The nationals are a little bit more traditional in the way they use their pitchers than the other teams you've faced so far this post season, particularly, I guess, the raise, and then that game six. I'll believe it when I see it. I think they should take their starter out after the third inning, to be honest. We'll pass that along to Davey.

Which is easier for you? I'm sure there's sort of differences in how you set up your lineup, but is there a way you prefer to play? Yeah, I'm the last person that's going to tell you it's easier to face Scherzer and Strasbourg in the first couple games. And just because they're traditional pitchers, you know, we're at the point of the season where these are elite teams. We went through Tampa, incredible team, the Yankees incredible team. Now we have the Nats, incredible team. So these pitchers are all really good.

How they deploy their guys is it is what it is. it is. I mean, I think when we'll see how much easier, quote unquote, easier it is to face a guy a second and third time. But with the type of pitching that we're going to face out of the rotation with the Nats, I'm not sure you can use the word easier. It was different on the front end,

going through different bullpens and never getting to see the same guy twice in a game. But we saw them three and four and five times during series. So I think this particular series, you've got to beat their starters. If you want to do well against the day, and that's, you've got to beat their starters, and then make them make decisions as the game goes on.

If you sit back and kind of wait for the bullpen or wait for them to make a decision, you'll look at Strasbourg and Scher's are throwing 120, 130 pitches, and you'll be too deep in the game to make up a difference. Those guys getting 21, 24, 27 outs is a real possibility for them. And that makes it tough either way. and the third row on your left.

AJ, what are the differences between this team in 2019 and the 2017 team that you had? I mean, there are different years, different teams. There's a few different players. We're a little bit more mature the guys that are here. But I haven't given a lot of thought to try to historically compare them. I mean, I think they're both really good teams. We both have gotten to the World Series.

One's got a ring. One doesn't. In the time that Josh James has been up here with you, How have you seen him grow and develop and get used to his role with your team? Yeah, it's pretty incredible to see James evolve as a pitcher. When he got here in September of 18,

it was to get a spot start. And we were going to see what this velocity and changeup was all about. And then he burst onto the scene in Fenway and ended up making our playoff roster after having very little major league experience. Coming back this season, it's been a little bit of an up and down season for him.

Was he going to be a starter? Is he going to be a reliever? When he got to be in the bullpen, was he going to throw enough strikes? But the one constant has been punching guys out. He's been able to miss bats his entire major league career. And that's very, very attractive this time of year. And it's why I put him in some situations where punch outs are huge with guys on base

or in a certain area of the lineup where we think we can seek a punchout. So he's grown, he's matured, he's become a father. He's he has. He has an identity on this team. Everybody knows that he's going to be prepared. And I love how he's been able to handle the uncertainty of being a young rookie last season into this year,

bouncing around a little bit in roles of leverage, and then coming out of it in October as a very viable weapon. Allison, right here. Joe Smith has made 782 career appearances, no World Series appearances. So assuming he gets into the series, he will, nobody has ever gone that many games. games that appearing in a World Series.

So what does it say about just his career? How happier are you for him that he's playing in this? I'm very proud of him. And he would be the one guy on this team, maybe Mariznick, too, that I would bring in my office and pretend like he's not going to make the roster just to get the reaction from him and he wouldn't buy it. But, you know, he was on the World Series team with the Cubs in 16 and didn't make, you know, didn't make the roster.

So this will mean a lot to him. And for him to come back from the injury that he did, very likable guy in the clubhouse, super positive type guy, has been on a lot of different teams. And if a guy sticks around this long and evolves as a pitcher, it means that he's a weapon. And he's also got some veteran savvy to him that teams buy in on.

So I'm proud for him. I'm anxious to get him in the game. It probably be one of the first games. He's nervous. He's hardly ever nervous. But I bet he'll be a tick nervous just because of the stage in the World Series and the excitement of having to endure all that before he gets to throw his first pitch in the World Series.

So he's a viable weapon for us. He pitched a huge eighth inning the other day. And it's funny, I told him before the game, I said, hey, you're going to probably pitch in the second against Sanchez or Ursula. And then I didn't. I passed on him, and I went to James. And I know he got his family here.

You better hurry and get to the game. It might be in the second inning when I pitch. And then after the game, he yelled at me. He's like, you're going to throw second. He just pitch me second. I'm like, no, I meant second to last. I guess the different. So I was happy to get him in the game,

and he helped us win. And towards the back on the left, Barry? AJ, two years ago, you would have gotten Furlander midseason. You got Granky midseason this year. What's the kind of learning curve for you, learning what those guys can do in a couple months, and how much more comfortable are you with each of them now that you have them?

Yeah, no, that is a big change. And one of the reasons we traded for Maldonado in the middle of the season this year is to get some familiarity back behind in the plate as well, both with Granky, having caught him in Milwaukee, but also the rest of our staff. And that's really hard to add somebody. We had a JV at the very end of the season

in the second deadline back in, that was old school, back in the day when you could have two. Getting to know them and getting them up and running, those guys are elite. So you know, you kind of adapt to them and figure out what's made them be successful. The last thing you're going to do is all of a sudden, you know, not have them prepare the same way.

You might sprinkle in a few ideas and we've done that. but just getting them into our program and into our communication line and into, it's been huge for us. And because they're so elite, it's a seamless transition when they come to a new team. They take over, they know how to prepare. We add a little bit. We get the familiarity with the catchers.

That's one of the most important ingredients in this to get the elite pitchers on the same page as the catchers so that when they go out in the game, they just be themselves. Ken? AJ, have you decide on your starting rotation? Yes, we'll have Cole on game one, Verlander in game two, Granky in game three, and Granky gets a hit.

That's going to be fun for him. In game four, as in typical fashion, we'll read and react based on how we want to do it. Could be Peacock, could be, or Kiti, could be somebody different based on how the first three games go. And just the value of winning over the Yankees and six to start Garrett-wise. Yeah, I mean, you know, I would have had to settle for a Granky's step. in game one. That wouldn't have been horrific. He's elite. So I, you know, certainly getting getting to start the series with Garrett and JV and and Grinky lined up is nice. We did have a pretty good backup plan if we were pushed to a game seven,

but, you know, it's hard, it's hard to think of, you know, many guys better than that trio to kick off a World Series. A few more in the back left. AJ, last week you said you'll officially be old when two players retire. I know, I'm like, my boy showed up this. That's right. Will you offer any words of encouragement to Fernando Rodney to keep this thing going? Encouragement?

Yeah. For next year, yeah, I want him to enjoy this, and I'm proud of him too. I got to catch him, and he's one of the rare guys still going. So Fernando, if you're listening, keep playing. How has he been able to stay this long in the game? I don't know how he continues to throw this hard. I mean, he's just got a gift, and he's, able to deploy it in the games.

But he's bounced around, played for a lot of teams, in some huge roles, too, some high leverage situations. And he's pretty unflappable. And I've talked to him different stops along the way, said hello to him. And it's the same guy that I had back in 2003 with Detroit. And yet, this isn't just like a couple years ago. This is 15, 16 years ago when we're talking about

he and I overlapping. and he's still throwing 96 to 100 and pitching latent games. Tyler. What did Josh Redick bring to you guys when he came here three years ago? And how do you explain sort of the connection he has with the fans? Yeah, I mean, how about that catch? First of all, it was a huge play for us. And he brings an edge that he often doesn't get credit for.

You know, I mean, the fans have really embraced him. He's got the wrestling thing going. He's got a great personality. They've done a few bobbleheads with them. He's just got that engaging vibe around him that I think people appreciate because he plays hard. I think when people watch him play, success, failure, struggle, dominate, whatever he's done, he's always played with some consistency, and fans around here appreciate that as much as they appreciate anything. And then on our team, he's an edge.

I mean, it's, you know, he doesn't make it comfortable in a good way. I mean, he's all about the competing. He's all about the reaction. There's never been a good call made on him from the umpire. He'll make sure people know that. He likes holding guys accountable, making comments. And that to me is a part of a team dynamic that you guys don't often get to see,

but us behind the scenes know how important he is. AJ, your game one pitcher is here. So thank you. We appreciate it. Garrett will welcome Garrett Cole to the stage. Garrett, thanks for coming in. Appreciate it. Who's got the first question for Garrett?

We'll start with Ron up here. To your right, Garrett. What are the challenges for you coming into an organization where you weren't, you don't know the players, and integrating to an established young group with Korea, Altuve, Bregman, Springer? It's not a lot of challenges, because we got a lot of good guys, and they made it really easy for me.

I mean, they were very welcoming. They were very, they were very gracious with their time. They were hospitable. We had some team events that obviously everybody's included, but it's a great way to break the ice. I mean, every year you come into spring training, you have guys that are new. So, you know, whether it's me or whether it's somebody else,

you know, you have to extend an open hand. and, you know, try to make them part of your family, try to make them part of your team. Third row on your left, Hunter. Garrett, how excited are you to start game one of the World Series and then growing up, what are some of your great World Series memories? I'm really excited to start game one. I'm really excited just to be here.

Some of my favorite World Series moments was I remember I was sitting on the third base side of Angel Stadium down towards the front row and I had a nice perspective of Bond's first Percival and he throws him this 100 mile an hour fastball like up at his neck and bonds just cranks it out and to right field and I think we all were just like the stadium just kind of like dropped dead for a minute a lot of I was at I was out of all those games at Angel Stadium, so we brought out the rally monkey was big that year, and the boom sticks, the noise-making things that we did. And we always, whenever David Eckstein would hit, we would make an X with the sticks.

You know, and I went to the World Series, Yankees, Arizona. And, you know, I think that was just a really special World Series, I think, for the whole country. It was probably the only time most people felt some empathy for the Yankees. And then Gonzo just ripped it right out. So that was an unbelievable series, getting to watch Randy and Kurt Schilling work. And those are two of my favorite as a kid. And then I've been fortunate to be able to watch the Giants Clinch in Detroit. and to follow them along their ride,

not actually going to the first or going to the second world. I can't remember which one it was. I only made one of the World Series, but I made both NLCS's. So I've been to three World Series, four now. And right up front, Garrett, Mark. Garrett, I know you touched on this a little bit after game six, but what are the challenges of the Nationals lineup?

Yeah, I think they're incredibly talented. I think they've had their backs up against the wall early, in the year. And it just kind of goes to show you the character of the players that they have. I think in the center of the lineup, it starts with Anthony Rendon being the tone setter. You know, a really special talent, probably

a generational talent. You know, we'll have to see how it all plays out. But if it goes as expected, he'll probably end up, you know, in the Hall of Fame. He's so cool and calm and collected. And I think a lot of his players feed off that. And he takes care of the baseball on both sides of the ball, both defensively and offensively, his approach

is really deliberate. And they have a lot of really great supporting characters that surround him. They're catching core is as strong as ever. Their outfield play is excellent. And on the mound, they're. They're nasty. Can you approach this like any other game,

or is that easier said than done? No, I think you can. I mean, I've been doing it for like six months now, so I'll probably just keep doing the same thing. In the second row, Bradford. Garrett, you and Steven Strasbourg, you share an agent both from Southern California. Did you guys know each other growing up,

compete in high school or anywhere along the long? No, not really. I think I've maybe played catch with them once or twice and caught up with him either here or there on the field or in the off-season training occasionally. Obviously, Scott speaks very highly of them, so do his teammates. In the short chance that I've got to know him,

I thought he was a really enjoyable person to be around. Obviously, he's really perfecting his craft at this point in his career. It's been good to see. You know, he's had some ups and downs that he's had to endure, especially from the injury standpoint, and well, specifically rather the injury standpoint. And, you know, so to kind of see him really becoming a true master of his craft,

I think all pitchers can appreciate that, and we're happy for him. Third row on you're right, Chandler. Garrett, coming off two series where bullpins were heavily used on the other side, Does you guys as a rotation like this better going in knowing that it's going to be mono-e-mono rotation for four straight days? I mean, you can kind of phrase it, however you want to phrase it. You can kind of phrase it like one-on-one. Like you said, I think last series sometimes we phrased it like five-on-one, you know, so you can kind of draw motivation from either side.

I personally am a big fan of starting pitching. I grew up wanting to be a starting pitcher, and I'm a starting pitcher now. And there are a lot of really good starting pitchers on the other side of the field. Guys that kind of emulate the role in terms of longevity, durability, creativity, creativity, grit, you know. And so just a pleasure to share the field with them on the greatest stage at this point, and best of luck to him. Left and third row, Eric.

You're kind of jumping off of that fellow pitcher to fellow pitcher. What do you admire most about Scherzer? I mean, there's a lot of things. So most, I think probably most is determination, because I feel like that, I feel like that word kind of covers how he competes, how he prepares. You have to be determined to be durable, my gosh, he's as durable as they come.

You have to be determined to be prepared, and he's as prepared as they come. And then his presence on the mound is determined. He's got a job to do, and he wants to go out and do it and just put the blinders on and get after the ball. The fifth row on your right, Heidi. You just kind of lit up when you're talking about Randy Johnson and Kurt Schilling and watching these dominant pitchers in World Series.

Have you had a chance to think about, the run you've been on, you're being mentioned with these guys, and what that means to you to not only be mentioned with them and have this great run and start game one of the World Series? Yeah, I've been asked the question a few times, so I don't really have a choice to think about it. I'd rather not think about it. So, but now that I'm thinking about it,

it's obviously it's very special. It's, you know, like you touched on, when you dream as a little kid, you dream about, you know, storybook endings and storybook players and scenarios like that. You know, I feel tremendously humbled to be in this position, and to be asked that question now several times is a little bit surreal. I try to answer the question the best I can, but I don't really know what to say. I'm just trying to stay focused and trying to finish the job because the people that you keep asking the question or the people you keep referring to when asking the question got the job done.

So I'm trying to I'm trying to deliver on that front. The second round of your left, Bradford. Garrett, there's been a lot of changes just in terms of league trends and the tools that pitchers use in terms of pitchers and, you know, four seamers are becoming more in vogue and sinkers, supposedly more out of vogue. What have you observed during your career? Because a lot of these changes arguably started here in Houston before you got here. But what have you seen? And how has this helped or caused you to adapt during your career? Yeah, I mean, well, the four seamer has been, I mean, I think Bob Gibson invented the foreseamer and Tom Seaver and John Dreisdell.

But I think there are ebbs and flows in the game, like you said. I think you just are forced to adjust. If you're trying to be a professional, you're trying to be forward thinking, you know, you have to use your eyes and you have to use, you know, the other tools that are provided for you, like what the Astros have provided to their players. But, you know, that playing field is now pretty much about leveled at this point. And so, but if you're constantly trying to adjust, like there's not a league that you get called up to, although I'm trying to make the argument for Mike Trout to go up to the next league. but he, you know, there's not one that you can go to the next level to. So at this point, it's always kind of adjusting and counter-adjusting. And so right now it's the four-seam.

For me, personally, in that perspective, it's just a pitch that just suited my repertoire and made all my other pitches much better. And so it's probably something I'll never abandon. But at the same time, you know, you do have to be vigilant and you do have to, you know, try to be staying ahead of the curve, not necessarily tearing down what's got you to the position, but maybe a small tweak that can kind of keep you at the top of the bell curve

for a little bit longer. Last question or two for Garrett. Anything else? I'll finish up with Brian. You mentioned World Series. You went to which game? Didn't you go to a game in 2017? Oh, I did.

I did. Yeah, game two. Shoot. Yeah. Did you ever think you obviously watching the Astros? play? Did you know any of those guys? Absolutely not.

You went for Dodgers reason? That's a little surreal. Yeah, I went there because Tony, David, Charlie, you know, I just wanted to support them. It was right at the street, and I got treated to a wonderful, wonderful game. And so I remember meeting Charlie Bracamante over before the game. They were playing catch, and he introduced me to him, and I got to see Jeremiah, too. but I remember that was the first time I met Brockamonte,

and if you've ever met Brockamonte the first time, you don't really forget that because he's just so bubbly and, like, just, you know, and of course he's in the World Series, so it's like volume up to level 10. And so that was really cool. I got treated to a great game, and wow, ironically, I'm here now. So that is something pretty unique.

And we'll finish up with Alice. I remember after the game five lost last year, And I remember seeing you at your locker and you were pretty down, of course, understandably. I'm just kind of curious if you thought about, like, how long did it take you to kind of get past that? I know the pirates you'd got in the postseason but not very far, and then you got pretty far last year. When you guys clinched the other night, did you think about kind of how you felt the year before and did it make it any sweeter to have gotten this far? Like it's something I'll never forget, that's for sure.

it's it's it's definitely something that I use to motivate myself I think it's always kind of in the back of our minds still as as as you know just kind of an awareness of or a perspective of you know what it feels like to be on the other side and how much we hated it and so I think we all use it to a certain level. However, it may be for each individual person. For me, it's just you can't control everything. But I mean, if you can control your preparation and you can go out there saying, look,

I did everything I needed to do to prepare this game. And I'm just going to go get after the ball. And what happens happens. You know, it just reinforces for me that mindset to do just, you know, days like this when I'm going to leave this press room and go warm up and play catch and then go sit in the video room, like, I'm going to hit all those spots and I'm going to pour a lot of time and effort. And when I leave, like, I'm going to be tired and then I'm going to get a good night's sleep

and I'm going to roll into it tomorrow. But that's in the back of your head saying like, hey, you know, go hit your routine, make sure you're focused when you play catch, no careless throw. every little counts, and then, you know, get after your preparation on the computer. Garrett, thanks so much. Yeah, thank you. We appreciate it very much. Garrett's teammates are going to be upstairs on the club level concourse next to the press box,

and we'll be back here. This is the Matt Thomas Show. We will open up this final hour with some a little bit of breaking news here on the Matt Thomas show. You know the Texans play the Raiders this week, right? Yes. 325, although, the game time of that changed. Originally was a noon. It's now 325. Wonderful. Vic Taffer covers the Raiders and the NFL for the athletic. He says that the Raiders have traded Garyon Conley, a cornerback to the Texans for a third round pick.

Hmm. I don't know much about Garyon Connolly, to be really honest with you. I'm not a, you know, I don't have the full scouting report for you on Garyon Conley, but he better be damn good if you're getting up a third round pick. Do we have any Google music? Yeah. I don't know. I'm sure Nick can throw something to get me. Just find something.

Let's just find something what it says on news about Gary on Conley. How many Pro Bowls has he made? Oh, you can do Wikipedia on this? Gary on Conley, Wikipedia. Oh, here we go. Drafted by the Raiders in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft. Okay. He can't be that good if he's a first round pick

and they're throwing and they're giving him away. He had three tackles yesterday. No, six tackles. Wonderful. This year he has had 23 tackles, no sacks, no force fumbles, one interception. Isn't it? He's only played in all six games.

He started all six. Last year he played in 15 games, started 14 of them. I don't know what to make of this, honestly. I just, it's just literally happened. Yeah, I'm going to need somebody who watches more Raiders tape than I do to break down Gary on Conley and what he's been up to. It doesn't matter. It does matter. I think it matters a lot.

It does matter a lot, Bill. Okay, let's see here. Yeah, I'm trying to see. Ian Rappaport, what he's saying on Twitter about it, whether it's good, bad, or indifferent. Yeah, it doesn't really say much at all. So tomorrow, when we talk about the Texans, with our buddy Aaron Reese from the athletic. We're going to have to find out exactly what the hell

Garion Conley will do for the Houston Texans. Again, if you're a Raider fan, let us know. Because, again, I don't follow the Raider. I didn't even watch this. I watched one episode of Hard Knocks and was thoroughly bored. I think I watched two before I tapped out. That's a series that needs to go away. You've got to, you're going to have to shake things up in terms of getting some sort of interest to him.

Well, how about this tweet? from Raiders beat from yesterday. Okay. Gary Eon Conley to the bench next week, calling it now. Now, how many touchdowns at Aaron Rogers store yesterday? Five. This is coming, you know, we're going to have to, you know what, we got, we got Ross's recap in the NFL.

I will do my due diligence on Garyon Conley. Raider Reed tweeting yesterday. I have a feeling Gary on Conley won't be on the Raiders pass next year. This isn't the first time the Texans have picked someone up from an opponent right before they play him. Demarius Thomas was one of those. That's true. That's true. Gary on Conley, averaging a 65.2% completion percentage when targeted.

This is terrible news. Okay, so here we're news. Nick, I'm putting you on assignment for the next five minutes. I want you to go watch the highlights of Aaron Rogers throwing all the things. touchdowns yesterday. Can you and find out what Gary on Conley's number was as a Raider. I think it was 26, right? Am I right about that?

And then I want you to find out how many of those passes were thrown in the vicinity of Garyon Conley, did he have good coverage? Because there are a lot of people bumping around Houston, Texas right now at 209 going, who the hell is Garyon Connolly? And what you just read Ross makes me very nervous. Well, Raider fans don't seem to be happy with them on Twitter. Are there even Raider fans out there? Yeah, there's tons.

Go to some Raider guy. And just find out, go to Raider fan like Raider fan till the day I die on Twitter and see what he says. This is great. This picture of Gary on Conley, Conley after the game speaks volumes, and it's a picture of toast on fire. Oh, no. There's another one that says Gary Conley after, Gary on Connolly after today's game, and it's from the longest yard with a guy just on the ground complaining. Did you say third round pick? Well, we don't, the Texans don't use their own picks anyway.

There's another Raiders fan who says How to Play DB by Gary On Conley from yesterday, and it's a dog with a box over its head just spinning in circles. What? Here's another one, actual pick of Garyon Connolly, more burnt toes. No! No! Bill O'Brien! What are you doing? You said he was number 21, right? No, I don't know what number he is.

21, I think. It's not looking good. Here's another one from Raider fan. Gary on Conley makes Dionne Sanders look like Ronnie Lott. Dude is such a blanky-blank. Female cat. What? Oh, no.

I know you're all busy hating on Gary on Conley, but Darrell Worley is trash. Okay, good. Okay, that makes me feel better. Does Garyon Conley know he's playing in an active football game? When was this? Yesterday. No.

These are all from yesterday. Do you hear this, Texans fan? Texans Karen, you can't be liking this. Traveling Texan, you must be hating this. Gary on Connolly. is a piece of bleep that needs to be left off the plate. Oh, I'm going to Twitter right now because I don't, I am. So Gary on Conley is playing like DJ Hayden.

Hopefully we get rid of Conley fast and then we get rid of his bum ass. Oh, this is nice. Really thought Gary on Connolly was going to take a step up this season. Doesn't seem so. Bill O'Brien really knows where to find those deals. This got to be an Easterby move, right? Yikes. Okay, we have just given you terrible, terrible news.

713-212-5-7-9. If any of you know anything about Garyon Conley. Rough one from Raiders analysis, Gary-on-Conley sucks. Why does number one pick Gary-on-Conley keep getting torched by number two, number three receivers asking for a friend? Is anyone concerned that Gary-on-Con-Conle is a pylon?

Is there no one who can replace him when he struggles? average players are lighting him up like dynamite. Gary on Connolly needs to get traded. We're done with this. Every week he gets bleeped on. Gary on Conley gets burned badly to open the second half. About halfway through this Aaron Rogers highlight reel and he's been burned multiple times. You're lying.

You're just trying to set up the show. I know what you're trying to do. I'm not kidding. He just got burned big on a 60-something-yard pass. Gary on Conley sucks, man. Enough, on Conley conversation. Gary and Conley is covering nobody.

The Astros are in the World Series. Can we please litter my phone lines with this? I'm getting tired of watching Gary on Conley. Gary on Conley plays like crap. Get around there, Pillow fighting. Let me tell you all don't call me. I'll let Arthur on the air.

713-212-5-790. Garyon Conley, Arthur, or Astros phone calls. This is Craig Ackerman. And the Rockets get the job done. Oh, here's another new catchphrase I have for you. Good. gracious.

Good gracious. You're listening to the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. All right, here we go. Quick check of what's happening around the National Football League and our Texans who just picked up a cornerback. Our Texans? Our Texans. That's what some say. Our Texans.

Compose yourself, Matthew. I am in a rabbit hole of Gary on Connolly tweets. It's making me physically. physically ill for our Texans. Don't do it. Don't look up Gary on Conley. And by the way, somebody put it on Twitter, Aaron Rogers' perfect passer rating yesterday.

Well, thanks for spoiling my recap, Matthew. Let's get to the recap right now, 221. Ah, yes, Matthew. Let's go ahead and get started. You know what? Normally I don't talk Texans in the recap because we've talked about them at length at some point earlier on the show. But you know what? Texans lose 30 to 23, and there was this weird play yesterday.

For third and goal from the four. Wawkson. Under pressure, shook one tackler, trying to shake the other, and throws to the end zone. Touchdown. DeAndre Hopkins, no. Yes, it is a touchdown. No.

It is ruled in possession as he crossed the goal line. ruling on the field, the quarterback was under pressure in the grasp. He was sacked, fourth down. Whoopsy, Daisy. How about that one, Matt? How'd you like that in the grass? Not fair. It wasn't fair. It really wasn't. Because an official, good official, has to know some quarterbacks are going to go down quickly, i.e. Joe Flacco. Some quarterbacks are going to stay up and get off past rushers and keep the play alive. That is Deshauner want since day one. I thought it was a bogus call.

And I'm not bash official guy, but that was a poor call. Yeah, just an awful call. Sean Watson overall numbers weren't horrible. Did have the two picks and the one at the end there, 308 yards at a touchdown. But the running game, not as good as it has been in weeks. Pat Matt, I thought that the passing protection was coming along. I thought the running game has been pretty solid for the last few weeks, especially with the run blocking, but not the case yesterday.

Only 100 yards on 24 carries overall. Yeah, really, Duke Johnson was giving. an opportunity early on and didn't make the most of it. Again, better receiver out of the backfield than he is runner. Carlos Hyde it was a subpar game on so many different levels. I thought the number one thing that irritated me more or anything else was

they just couldn't stop the officials from throwing the hankies all over the place. And so finish this sentence, Matt. The AFC South will be won by? Indianapolis, right? Did you pick them preseason? No, I had Jacksonville. But hell, Jacksonville Tennessee both won yesterday. Am I getting away more of your recap? No, it's fine.

We're going to break down a whole lot of Jaguar football. We've got some people and talk some Astros too. Okay, you know what? Let's get this quickly over with. And how about this one? The Green Bay Packers, we mentioned, Oakland Raiders, secondary, not looking so hot. Aaron Rogers with the historic day. Let's get the breakdown from Matt Will Flore.

And this is pretty special right here now. First time in Packer history, a guy completes a game with a perfect passer rating. And here's some more Gary on Conley tweets for you, Matt. Gary on Conley is out there. pillow fighting at this point I feel like Gary on Conley's snap should be reduced we should get more of a look

at we at our rookie corners Gary on Conley is DJ Hayden's clone Gary on Conley might be the worst starting DB in the league Gary on Connolly stinks Gary on Connolly is so ass get rid of worth this Gary on Conley Gary on Conley

Gary on Conley is getting worked over. Gary on Conley is so damn trash, bruh. I'm trying to find one nice thing about Gary on Conley in these tweets. It's not possible. He has fresh breath. Hopefully.

Well, if you want to get to the folks, Matt, we can wrap it up there. Or I can give you one more. How about one more? One more. New Orleans Saints, 36 to 25 over the Chicago Bears. The Bears have that tough defense. But Teddy Bridgewater, Matt, what do you make a ham? A 23 to 38, 28, 281 yards, a couple of touchdown.

Latavius Murray in the absence of Alvin Kamara had a great game. I picked him up in fantasy football. Thank you. Oh, you're welcome. How the vice principals do this game? We're doing very well. Thank you for asking. So what do you think about the Saints asserting themselves? And there is not a quarterback controversy, but apparently there have been some people,

including Saints fans who want Bridgewater starting instead of Drew Breeze, but they're high. They're high. It's Drew Breeze all day long. And then I'll do it for your recap so we can get to the folks. All right. Let's take a short time out. We'll get to those phones. when we come back, Josiah, Richard, Asia,

all of you hang tight, we'll get to you. And I'm not going to look at Gary-on Conley tweets during the break. They're bad. It's just awful. Now, third-round pick is gone. First-round pick is, are they going to have any draft picks left?

I don't know. I need a second-round pick gone. I know at some point there's a second round that goes. I think so. I think that's gone. And, by way, Rossi, we are, The next time Laramie Tunsell gets called for an illegal procedure or formation, guess what's happening on the Matt Thomas show? We got an obligatory coming into play.

You, okay. All right, 227 on the Matt Thomas show. Hey, it's Carmelo Anthony. The Matt Thomas show continues. On your home of the Rockets. Sports Talk, 790. Yes. Gary on Colleen, nice cushion.

He's going to back pedal off of this because he's worried about Antonio Brown. and that's just an easy out route and the timing route. Because of the cushion by Garyon Connolly, that's pitch and catch and that's all day. Here's Freeman. Nice run by Royce Freeman down the sideline. Knocked out by Jonathan Abram. He'll attack some more. There is a flagged out.

It was a game of 26, and Conley got the worst of that exchange. Royce Freeman goes six feet. 238 pounds. He is a load. That play was blocked well and it comes over on the sideline. Garyon Conley, just hope he's all right, not moving. With hard hits. He's just going to have to learn here in this kind of situation. It's tough to play defense in the NFL. No question about it, but you're going to have to learn. Otherwise, you're going to cost your football team. That's the best I could find, man. Thank God the World Series is here on 790. Gary on Kyle. I don't have to spread that crap on this station.

The highlights room getting burned and trucked and hurt. We got some Astro folks to talk to. Enough of this, Gary Ann Conley. Hi, Asia. Good afternoon. Wow. Okay, so first I've been on hold for so long. I hope I can get everything out.

I'm going to try to say calm. I'm running, and I was trying not to, but it was on hold so long. So first, you know what I did yesterday that like almost half of Houston did, and it's not watch the Texans because I didn't need that stress in my life right now when I'm trying to enjoy the Astros wind? what I did? What? Go ahead.

Okay, literally for like six hours, and I did other stuff, too. I had my YouTube on, and I was just listening to all the plays over and over again, smiling and just so good. And then I check the Texans every once in a while. I'm like, okay, okay, okay. So then I just want to talk about everyone, Al-Tubei, Reddick, he's make awesome plays. You know, he's been making those plays, so that's cool. So what Brantley did was just incredible, and I don't know if y'all heard the story

that Joe Buck told about him. and about the ninth inning to Marizanick and I'll let y'all tell that since I want to talk about a few other things because it was pretty funny. Number two, okay, Yuley, I want to give him. He needs more credit, you know, like everybody knows how good he did in the second half, and then it felt so bad for him during the playoffs. So it's like hitting it into the wrong spots, hitting it hard, and then finally hit that home run. So the MLB network, and, you know, I've never been a header before, but they said that hit that he made was like a 12% chance of him hitting it out of the part

because it was like real inside and the place on the bat where he had to turn to hit it. So, like, awesome for you. Then, most importantly, well, there's a lot of most importantly, but okay, so we need to appreciate, so appreciate this team. You know, my first love was actually football in sports because there was parody in sports, so there was a salary cap, right? Forever in baseball, who was the winners, Yankees, how many freaking 26th World Series they have? That's just ridiculous because they bought everybody, and it was like fraud.

So now we have a luxury tax, and I don't know how much part it plays, but I think it plays at least a little bit because for the past 10 years, that evil empire hasn't got one freaking world series, and we're the Astros or their nemesis, and we're the ones bringing them down, and hopefully we'll just keep doing that because we're smart, analytics, we spend a little money, and now I'm breathing hard. And, you know, we've just got the team,

and hopefully people will be able to be able to. appreciate in this luxury tax error. Astros aren't going to be just one of the best Astros team. They're going to be one of the best teams. So, and I got my tickets for at least the watch party for sure, and hopefully the World Series. I'm fine. So I can't come back another time because I'm too busy. Just kidding.

I'm not busy. Just kidding. I'm not making time for you. Just kidding. I don't. I don't make time. Just kidding. I don't.

Just kidding. I don't make one right now. Just kidding. I don't have a pan. Just kidding. I don't have a stove. I got to buy a stove. I need.

I don't have a stove. Just kidding. There's a stuff. You? I'm okay. I don't smoke. I don't smoke. There's nothing I can say about Asia's conversation, except Asia, your delight.

We love having you listen to the show. An American Treasure. An American Treasure. Richard in League City on 7. No. Hi, Richard. Richard, are you there? Richard is not there.

Let's go to, nice talking with you. Josiah and Beaumont on 7th. Hello, Josiah. Good on, guys. Well. First off, I want someone of whatever speed Asia's on. Also, I love my Astro, I love Altovae, the home run. My heart stopped for a little bit, just like everyone else did.

But, Ross, I got a bone to pick with you because I was content the last few months of the season, being an Astros fan, that when Osuna came in the game, my hopes weren't up. I did not trust in Osuna. Like, you've had me do the last few weeks and what happened? I got burned by doing it. So now, at what point do you turn on him? and come to my dark side because that's where we need to be at, Ross. Osuna is not the closer of the future.

He might not even be the closer of this playoffs. He's the closer to this playoffs. He's the closer to the playoffs, Josiah. Thank you. I got to get a lot of other folks in. He's the closer to the series. Rolas Chapman gave up a two-run home run as well. He's going to be the closer for the Yankees next year, probably.

Or is he, uh, you know, he has, he can opt out. I don't know if he'll be going to do that. Whatever. Anyways, he'll be closing somewhere. Closers lose games. Closor. Really awesome closers lose games in October. Go ask Kenley.

Jansen why he's not wearing a 2017 ring. Osuna has had two shaky outings in the playoffs, but he's had, I want to say, like, five really good ones. Oh, no. He's been, since about September 15th's been really good. Yesterday was a, or Saturday was a blemish.

It happens. If George Brer could jump like three more inches. He did. I'll give him, he tracked it pretty damn well. He really, really did. He really did. Let's go to Roy in North Houston at two 40 on 7-0. Roy, how are you?

How can you all and put the orchestra on Asia? What the heck? Got flacking or what? We're in a good mood. We can't do that to our girl. Hey, back to baseball talk. That play, I believe it was game three where Altuve booted it and Correa was there and he threw out. I think it was DD at the plate. Do you think if they win the World Series, that's going to go down like the way the Jeter play did where he was at the right place of the right time? toss the ball to Pasada and got Giambi out.

Well, how about this? Let's debate that. If you were to take one defensive play of that series, do you take the play you just discussed, or do you take the play where Michael Brantley doubles off Aaron Judge on the fly ball to left field? I don't know. I like the two-day career because that's heads-up, right?

Cheater was heads-up. He had no business. Oh, but look, I don't. If you don't think Michael Brantley's catching left field, then getting right back up and throwing a missile to first base wasn't heads up. I don't know what the definition of a heads up is. No, no, no, it is heads up. Sorry. He was in his position.

He did what he did. A runner was on. You know, it was a, you know, it was a, that's what he was supposed to do. Check your runner, throw it down. Yeah. Giambi was, correction. Jeter was not supposed to be there. And neither was Correa.

Karea, Krayo never moves towards Altuva, right? He most likely has it, but he booted it. He moved that way anyway. and man, it's pretty freaking. I showed that play to my son five times, how you always move towards the ball, how Torrigo's had his helmet on, because my son's a catcher, he's nine years old.

I'm like, look at this. Heads up play, yelled out 4, 4, 4. They threw it home, threw a strike. I mean, I think that's going to go be that Jeter play, if you ask me. You know what? It's, we're arguing against Flaymignon against Prime Rib is what we're doing, because they were both outstanding plays.

Now, the Correa play indeed saved the run, because the runner from third was trying to come home and score. but uh ross i'm telling you the career the the brantley play was just electrifying on some many levels it was stunning it was great it was i mean he i thought that ball was going to drop i really did and i was going to spell trouble and then to just get up one hop fire one hopper that just doubled him up that was great just because judge would have man to the third base a ball was in the air long enough that he probably would have been you'd have had runners of the corners right in a world of hurt i think

he got past second, didn't he judge? Yeah, he's kind of come back around, type second base come around. So that's why, again, it was so impactful. 2.40 is our time. Do we do we do them believe it or not today? Did you even think of a topic? I think we should just take calls.

All right. There are a lot of people that are dying going to win. I listen to this show at $2.50 every day for this game. I can win at very average prizes. The only thing I came up with Gary on Conley, and there's not a whole lot. Oh, no, no, no. I can do all Conleys.

Mike Conley. I went to Conley Elementary. No, it's fine. Is that still open or is that they abandoned the... You know what I want to do right now, since we're not going to believe in our prizes, how about we just give away a prize? Okay. You know what?

Let's just save it around. If you would like to, Thursday night, my beloved Houston Cougars, are going to try to get even with the rest of America. They're going to take on the SMU Mustangs. And we would love for you guys to go check that game out. If you would like to win some tickets to see the University of Houston, what do we have on four packs on now? Do we have anything that we have a number of it?

We'll give away a pair of tickets. We'll do. We've got pairs of tickets. We'll give away. U.H versus SMU Thursday at TDECU Stadium. Game starts, by the way, at 630. They'll be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Andre Ware, winning the Heisman trophy.

And you can actually park in the lots at Minut May Park and then ride the TDECU train all the way over there for free. UH versus SMU is Heroes Night. They'll be celebrating the military and first responders. 630 U of H versus SMU. If you'd like to go, Nicholas, let's give away three or four pairs of tickets, if you don't mind at 713-212-5-790. We'll take some calls.

We'll wrap up this Monday edition of the Matt Thomas show. This is Sports Talk 790. Hey, it's Eric Gordon. Gordon for three in the lead. Matt Thomas is my favorite voice in Houston. EG for three. You're listening to the flagship. Sports Talk 790.

It is a busy week in our community. You get mentioned in the Cougar game, which would be over on 950. Yes. Rockets open up with Milwaukee. Then Saturday it's New Orleans. Without Zion Williamson, by the way. That's true. And then Monday, Chris Paul comes in with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Rockets.com for all your ticket information on that. And World Series games peppered throughout. Yeah. We're doing well. Somebody just tweeted Pat Statt, and it makes sense. Here is the 2020 Houston Texans draft. First round, Laramie Tunsell. Second round, Kenny Stills.

By the way, it was really good yesterday. Duke Johnson third round, Gary Ann Conley, also in the third round. Yeah, but when you factor in, it's not exactly one-for-one, when you factor in contract situations. Oh, I'm not talking with you. I'm just saying somebody's looking at a perspective of you're getting rid of your draft so you can put in players that can help you right now. Okay.

Everything was done to help this team immediately because you lost Lamar Miller, you needed another running back. You got that. You actually got two and you got Carlos Hyde and, is a pickup. Conlin with all the secondary injuries, Kenny Stills has been a good receiver, and you need a left tackle.

Because you couldn't find one in the draft. Even though you just drafted one in the first round. Who's done for a little while? He's hurt, yeah. And by the way, yesterday hamstring injury for Will Fuller, he's officially IP. I'm going to wait and see mode on that one. No, you can wait to see all you want.

What are you talking about? He's young. He's young in the game. IP. Carlos Cray. For those of you know, is Carlos Cray injury prone? Absolutely.

He looked pretty good throwing that ball in first place. No, see, you don't seem to understand. If you're injury prone, you can come back from the injury. You're just going to be prone to being hurt every year.

Michael Brantle, who's known as injury prone to look pretty good throwing up. Let's make a steak bet next year. You already owe me one thing. Might as well be two. Hey, I've tried to cash in a thousand times. You just like holding it over my head. Carlos Correa.

I'm setting the over under at 115 games next year. Okay. You taking the over on that? I'm going to have to bet right now. No, I'll take the over. Sure. You know what's going to happen on that. What are you talking about?

713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Let's go to Gerald and Bel Air at 252. Hi, Gerald. Hello, man. How are you doing? Good about it. I'll have to speak with you.

You know, in the playoffs, every time you make a playing baseball in the playoffs, it's a great play. You can remember Ron Saboder when he was with the Mets and he made that great player in right field. Really, Mays made a great... You know, in baseball and playoffs, everything is magnified in the playoffs. But to me, the biggest game that people are not really paying attention to us, the second game that they played the Yankees.

If we would have lost that game, we would have lost something about mojo. But when you have Al Tuve, who's considerably arguably the best player in baseball, you always have an opportunity to win. And the reason I think that young man, Alvarez, has having problems. Now they're just giving you one pitch to hit if you don't hit it. That's it. And without Tuba, he doesn't miss that pitch. And I listen to your show, Madden.

Thank you for letting me rant for a moment. My pleasure. Good to hear from me, Gerald. Don't ever be a stranger to the radio show. That's Gerald that calls in. I was always a pleasure to speak to us. I wish people were as polite to him from him to us as they would be to most of us.

He usually like because he calls you a young man. That's fine. I'll take young when I can get it. Let's go to David in League City. Hi, David. David. Hey, Iron. Not very well.

David, are you in a wind tunnel? David hung up. Are you in a bullet train? I'm taking a loss on that is what David just said. Let's go to Jimmy calling us from Indianapolis. Or Indiana, I should say. Hi, Jimmy. Yeah, north of Indianapolis.

Hey, how are y'all doing today? We're wonderful. A little trivia here for you. The walk-off home run, a two we had, was he's one of five players that has had a walk-off home run in an L-D-S game, L-C-L-C-S game. Yeah, easy for you to say. Yeah, right. Can you name another player? Maglio or Donias?

Aaron Boone. Aaron Boone was another one, yeah. Yeah, Aaron Boone was one that had that player. So kind of would make you think he's done it. Why not walk him? Now, I'm glad they didn't, but he didn't have thought enter his mind. You know what? I like to play 2020 on the show, and I'm going to do it, Ross.

Okay. He should have walked him. Aaron Boone after the game did say it was not an intentional walk situation Well that's why he was sitting out I mean I thought it was going to the 10th personally I thought that I didn't

I thought Al Tuve could make some contact Because he is I mean If there's anybody you went on up in that situation Against somebody who throws 101 It's Al Tuve It's you know you don't want Jake Mariznick up That's true

And the Astros would have had Jake Mariznick up If not for the fact that Aaron Boone Decided to not walk With the game winning run in scoring position Yeah, that's the only caveat for sure. But you're still again, thank you for the phone call, Jimmy. You still Ross are telling the world you need Jake Mariznick to get the hit more so than Jose Al-Tube. Play the percentages.

You need him to get a single. I mean, Al-Tuvie has to hit a home run or an extra base hit. Yeah, walking, put him at first base. I'm still taking my chances. Yeah, you're going hindsight, I think. Well, you said you in the moment. No, and at them all. Right now.

And again, I would be more than happy for you to outman this, but I'm from the exact moment, I said, why is he pitching to him? All right, let's remind you about Big City Wings. Great place to go today to eat $1 chicken tenders at any of their eight locations. Also, their big beers are at $3.50 as well. So if you're looking for cheap eats, cheap drinks, and amazing food from great appetizers like pickles, spears,

the fried mac and cheese, the pulled pork nachos are very, very, very, very underrated. You've got to try that. Get yourself a burger. Get yourself those chicken wings, the chicken tenders that are dollar. And then if you so choose so, fried Oreos with ice cream on top is devilishly good. Is that the word devilishly? Yeah, we'll go with that.

Big on wings, big on TVs for not only football tonight but baseball tomorrow, the Rockets that are this week. Enjoy the big city wing treatment at any of the eight big city wing locations. There's Markey. There is the Bear Creek area, a couple of North Siders, my Kingwood location. that's my neck of the woods. You'll enjoy the experience of the Big City Wing treatment. Remember, $1 chicken tenders. You're not cooking the night because you're tired and you're so amped up for Game 1 of the World Series.

Do it today at Big City Wings. That's it for the show today. Back tomorrow. We are locked and we are loaded with lots of baseball guests. We'll mix in a Texan take or two and get you ready for game one of the American League. No, new, new. Game one of the World Series has a great ring to it. For Ross, for Nick.

I'm Matt. Have a great day. A team is up next. Talk to you all tomorrow at noon on 790.