The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 10-22-19

Episode Date: October 22, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 10/22/19Double Crush Bus (0:00)Aaron Reiss Discusses The Gareon Conley Trade (21:00)The Voice Of The Nationals, Charlie Slowes, Joins Matt Thomas (43:17)Dana Holgorsen Joins Matt Thomas Ahead Of SMU (1:01:15)Mike Stanton Thinks Yordan Alvarez' Struggles Are All Mental (1:21:59)

So much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. 12. Good afternoon to you and welcome to a Tuesday edition, a World Series Game 1 edition on the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Guess what we got?

Driveway sports RV. A gig. gigantic party bus is orange rainbow and it's headed a minute may park where the roof should be open but it's not But I digress Nick low So Matt we want you on the double crush bus Oh do we're gonna put you in the very back Because we're a little afraid of things you may say that could be considered awkward

I thought he still had that restraining order. Oh, I forgot about that So if you want on the double crush bus us right now. 713, 212. 5.790. 713, 212,

5790. What are you wearing? What are you drinking? And who is your pick-to-click? For game one, Max Surzer, against Garrett freaking coal.

Rossi? Yes, Matthew. A lot of energy in the city. Huge. 90% of it's positive. People up here all wearing their Astros gear. Yeah. Not us, but people. No, I'm wearing, again, collard shirts with striped.

Stripe polo. That really comes to zero surprise any of you. If you're doing a Matt Thomas costume for Halloween, you should have the striped polo with, that would be going down for sure. By the way, if you're having a Halloween party, I'd love to come to your party. Really?

Yeah. I haven't dressed up in years. Hmm, you haven't? What was the last thing you dressed up for a Halloween party? A couple years ago. I was Pablo Escobar. I want a costume contest. Yeah, but you're a every day.

You're Pablo Escobar every single day. No, I'm not. Okay. Well, you look like a Pablo Escobar every single day. How about that? Very racist. It's not haricist. It's just who you are.

It's part of the charm that is at Sports RV. You know how you get the double crush bus started? You think about other great trips on the double crush bus. Really? For example. You win the Tampa Bay series. Yes. You win the New York Yankee series.

You think about 2017. Okay. And, you know, speaking that New York series, you just never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to get tired of hearing this. I swear. As Jose Al-Tubei. Sorry to interrupt you, Robert. Yeah, Robert. That was your time to shine, not mine.

All right, let's count the see you laters. There were four, right? Well, there was four on Carlos and I think three on Jose. So you're talking about seven see you laters and two amazing home runs, right? Yes. All right. Let's see if that'll work. Let's count them one more time.

And that's driven. Deep to left center field. Garner is going back. Two. Three. That's a three. All right. Rossi, the bigger question is going to be is you got on the double

crushed bus at 713, 2, 1, 5, 790 is who? Who, who, who, who is the pick-to-click in game one of the series? You can't say Garrett Cole, right? Were you making an owl's reference to Anthony Rendon and you're saying who-who-who? Oh, that was a dastardly move on your part. Can we pick a national?

No, because then you would preserve it. You would then assume the nationals would win a game in this series. Well, you could pick them. I got the Astros winning in five games. Really? Five. That's how confident I am. I mean, Washington is good.

Astros better. Astros bullpen significantly better. Astros lineup in Bullpen better. Starting pitching better for the Nationals. Deeper for sure. If Garrett Cole is the best pitch the group, you get a certain percentage of the starting pitching advantage, right?

That's true. Just saying it, but you're right. It is a deeper group for sure. All right. You want the double crushed bus? Let's go. 713, 212.5, 790. 713, 2125, 790. Again, what you're drinking, what you're wearing, and who is your pick-to-click? Nick, since you are in the back

and we usually forget about you, what are you wearing? I'm wearing my 2017 World Series Champion T-shirt from the Astros. Perfect. What do you wear? What are you drinking? Today, I think I'm going to drink some. Let's go with tequila. It's a party day. All right.

And who is your pick to clicking game one? Here, I'll throw a wild card in there. Bryce Harper for taking the money and not being there. That's why he put you in the back of the bus. Yep. All right. The restraining order is only 50 feet. Thank you. I'm actually going to be behind it. You're fine. Okay. Good. Ross.

What do you want? What are you wearing? I'm wearing a full astronaut space suit. Okay, with that little head thing that the guy, those guys People are always wearing around. It's going to be a little warm, but that's okay. Gotcha. I'm drinking, of course, ice cold refreshing. Dosecis.

Are you shaking your head? I'm just with a little squeeze of lime. All right, go ahead. And my pick to click, is it too easy to go Jose Al-Tufe? No, you can do it. Jose L-Tupe is going to have at least two hits. I am wearing my Astro sweater best that I hardly ever wear, the bright orange one. Mm-hmm.

Am I wearing a shirt underneath? Probably so. That would be kind of obvious. I would work so. I'm going to go with ice, cold, refreshing Coors Light. Wonderful. Then follow it up with a blue moon with an orange wedge. Of course.

And the pick to click today will be... Hmm. Michael Brantley. Just going throwing it off a little bit. He did it defensively in game six. Why not help out offensively in game one? John on 790. Do you want to double-crime?

Rush bus. I want to go with Redick. Okay. Because he, just like Bradley, who has made the defensive move, Redder did the same thing, and he's going to help out offensively. All right, very nice. What are you drinking? St. Arnold's lawnmower.

All right. And then I'm going to wear my No one Ryan shirt I have. Jersey. Okay, very good. Thank you, John. Kind of going old school. Not wrong with Nolan Ryan. Old school jerseys on the Matt Thomas show.

Let's go to Jake in Paraly. Jake, what are you wearing? It's kind of weird for me to ask. I'm wearing absolutely nothing. I'm butt-necked, drinking some warm moonshine. We're not letting you know. I'm not wearing Nolan Ryan socks. Okay, so he's wearing Nolan Ryan socks only.

He's not getting on the bus. Yeah. Dude, you have to wear some sort of like underwear, at least. No, we need full clothes. Like, no speedo. Boxers, maybe. For the men. Yeah, men, yeah, women, we don't really.

Let's go to Jay and Montrose. Jay, what are you wearing? I got my Turino's jersey on, and I got a bunch of pocket vodka shots that I'm going to be bringing into the stadium. Oh, very nice. Who's your pick-to-click? I think it's going to be Cherino. Wow, well, that's a second Robinson-Turinos call there. Thank you for the phone call.

Have we missing someone with the catchers? Because neither run of them done much offensively, right? Yeah. That'd really be going on a limb. A lot of swing. I predict swings and misses for the catchers. 7.8.9? Number of hits between 789 today for the actual...

Tonight. But the over under at 3. Let's see. We're not in the National League Park yet. Three. Over on. Reddick, Torino, and... No, I'll say 2.5.

Yordan is our 7? Yeah. Two and a half is the over under. A number of hits between 7. Under. Is that a good sign or not? It's fine. It's fine.

It's fine. Ronald on 790 and 1210. What are you wearing? I think I'm going to go just kind of with a colored polo with the Astros logo on it. Okay. Kind of business like. Yeah, your business casual today in the double crush best. I'm okay with that.

Business casual today. Right. And then I'm going to have some jacking coke. Yeah. And then I think you're on. I think he's going to be ready. All right. Thank you, Ronald.

I take the over on the three. Okay. you know what? It would be a good problem to have. Hey, have we had one female in the double-crush bus? This is a bunch of dudes in our bus. I don't feel very comfortable about this. Is Karina a line 5 a woman? Karina is a woman's name, yeah.

I think it actually is a woman this time. All right. As compared to previous times. Karina, are you a woman? Yes, sir. All women. I love it. Karina, please don't take this a wrong way, but what are you going to be wearing?

Well, that's hot, first off. Oh. Yeah, tonight I'm wearing, I have some really fun Astros, a pajama bottoms I'm going to wear. And, you know, I'm going to walkout. I literally love the Astro shirt with, I have some Astro Slides in my throw one, because I'm going to be relaxing and watching these guys play tonight.

All right, what are you drinking? I'm going to drink a dirty diet, duck pepper. Explain. Huh? What is a dirty Dr. Pepper? Does that mean it has olive juice in it? You know, it's Dr. Pepper with, like, grenadine and just all kinds of weird, random stuff thrown in. It's delicious.

There are people on Twitter asking if you're single? You know, I have one husband that is very, very lucky guy who has an outdoor love and wife. And seen. Karina, who's your pick to click? You know, I love Robbie, but I think that after his double play he threw the other day, I'm going to say Brantley. He was really on his stuff and, you know, really helped to turn the game around the other night. All right. Karina, tell your husband, thank you for listening to our radio station very much.

Thank you. You're welcome. See you later. All right. One last one. Since we like females on the bus, Ross. Ashley on 790. Ashley, what are you wearing?

My 2017 championship shirt. All right. Wonderful. Nice. What are you drinking? Vodka all around. Just straight vodka? Oh, yeah.

Oh, goodness. It's serious. And who's your pick-to-click? I'll go with good old George Springer. George Brunner. Thank you very much, Ashley. And that's the double-crush bus at 1213. This is a good ride.

It got better, right? Too many dudes early on. We like a mixed crowd if you know what I'm saying. A lot of cheering, a lot of hugging, a little high fives. Corrine and Ashley certainly welcome. All of you are walking with the double crush bus. Wonderful. All right.

To the game itself next, 1213 on Sports Talk 7. 18. Texans update, bottom of the hour. Aaron Reese is with us. We've got some other guests along the way. But a lot of it focusing today on the Astros and getting ready for game one of the World Series. This is your home. the Astro. Sports Talk 790.

Hey, this is Joe Green. Sports Talk 790 is your home for Houston Rockers Basketball. All of our songs today are going to be songs that are going to get us fired up for tonight. I want to hear Kenny Loggins. This is it? Is this what's getting you fired up right now? Not really, but we're just giving a little sample size. Jennifer Lopez? We're building to this.

Kenny Loggins gets you fired up? Yeah, this is it. You play at 1230 people get fired up. No, I'm just getting fired up. Oh, yeah, I'll be fired up. Maybe you and people like at the dentist's office. Let's do this real quick. We've got the 25-man rosters officially out for the Astros in the series.

We'll tell you about that. There's only one change. It's not a real stunner. But before we do that, let's put a ribbon and tie up the Astros Yankees series. Okay. You know our friends at ABC, Jimmy Kimball. I was on a show a couple years back. Yes.

Decided to go out and talk to some people in New York about congratulating the Astros on winning the American League. Oh, great. Against their squad. This is from last night's Jimmy Kimball. What is your name, ma'am? Donna. Where are you from, Donna?

Brooklyn. Wonderful. Donna from Brooklyn. Would you like to wish the Astros? Good luck in the World Series? Absolutely not. Anything you want to say, though? I do.

I want to say Altuve, that was a nice shot, but next time we're going to throw at your head. Would you like to congratulate the Houston Astros on going to the World Series? FI. The Astros. The Houston Astros. York Yankees all day. I'm a New Yorker. I'm a Yankee.

I want to tell that little little bit of L-Tuvier to come by my construction site. We'll throw them a beating. Anything you like to Houston Astros? Look right now. Huck the Houston Astros. You want to congratulate the Astros on going the World Series? Hell no. F*** the Astros. A-S-S-T-R-O-S. And fuck Al-Tubei a little tattoo-looking bastard. I hate them. Go Yankees. Anything you'd like to say to the Astros? They fuck them. They suck.

You a Yankees fan? Yeah, baby. Anything you'd like to say, the Houston Astros? Go. So, is that good? It's not very nice. No. I have a feeling they just grabbed six people on the street that couldn't even know who the Astros are.

No, there's a lot of Yankees fans out there, Matt. I'm just saying. How could they name five Astros besides Altuio? Every single one of those people were legit, 100% baseball fans? At least one of them had a Yankees hat on. That's true. That's true. I mean, you probably talked to like 100 people to get those seven, eight responses.

Yeah. So those are the best. Yeah. A little M-O-S, man on the street, as we call it. Yeah. You know, we should probably do that and send it back to them. Hmm. Okay.

So, Ross. We're going to be a lot nicer, though. I don't know. We're not going to have a bunch of people say, I'm a Yankee. Go Astros. We beat that Yankee ass. Yeah. I live in a broom closet.

It costs me $2,300 a month. I've got to pay $1,000 for a parking spot. Can you imagine having to pay for a parking spot? I burn my mouth on our New York pizza. Good. pizza, though. It is good pizza. I can find those people if you want. I'm sure. I bet you could. You know, next week's

rocket tour. You know, the NBA season starts tonight? Does it? Clippers and Lakers are playing. The two teams that are going to lose the rockets in the Western Conference playoffs. Are they? Well, hopefully. They'd probably knock each other out and then meet the whoever one of the Rockets in the finals. All right. So the 25-man roster is at the only change.

Brian will bring you out. Chris Stavinsky in. A full breakdown, Matt. Your thoughts? I don't really remember the last time Davensky pitched until I went and looked it up. It was the last week of the regular season. I would think probably that's more about experience anything else, right? Do the Nationals got a lot of lefties or something? No, I'm just saying I think Chris Davensky is probably ready to go with a little, you know,

I'll be ready for game four. I'll throw an ending if I have to. Okay, do we want him throwing anything? Let me, did you, okay, on all seriousness, did you get really, okay, so Abraeu gives up, not Abra-U, Osuna gives up the home run to right field. And you're thinking extra innings, right? Mm-hmm. The only two arms that were in theory that were left after Osuna was a Brayu and Rondon.

Mm-hmm. How confident were you and those two gentlemen trying to lead you to 11 or 12 in a game? I was not very confident. I was talking to my brother. I was like, well, I don't know if they're going to win this game. But I think there was only a couple guys left in the Yankees bullpen. Oh, yeah. It was down.

I mean, because at that point, you'd already, even if, let's say, Altubei doesn't at the home run and Mariznick strikes or whatever, you're still looking at 25, 30, 35 pitches with Arolda's Chapman. So they've been very doubtful that he'd have gone for a second inning. Yes. Would Osuna have gone back out? I don't think so. I don't think so either. No, that's what I'm saying.

That's why the thought of who was left in the Astros bullpen crossed from mind. And that's when you first started thinking about does Gary Cole come out to try to finish this? And that's where you're really missing Tyler White. No, you're not missing Tyler White. If you're missing Tyler White, I'd say call, but then call somebody else. Nobody's missing Tyler White. Let's go to, let's see, Brian in downtown at 1224. Hi, Brian.

Howdy. Hey, I was just going to obviously pick one thing out of the little montage there. And I love how they, like, anoint Yankee fans and their broadcaster, Glaver Torres, as, you know, he had a good little season. And they talk about Jose Al-2, babe. And Glaver Torres mentally and physically, he's not even a quarter of the way. to where Jose is or loved or anything like that. And it's just like, their fan base, they can't even say, man, he's a good player.

And you know what he's a good dude, too, because, I don't know, I just don't get it. But they got players and they judge, he can swing it a mile over the fence. But, you know, very inconsistent. Yeah, I don't know. It's just very funny that manager of that whole franchise over there. You know, they're good, a lot of free slingers, big contracts. but they're not a team, you know?

You know what? He's 22 years old, by the way, Glavert Torres. I don't know if you know that or not. Look at Jordan Alvarez. His maturity and his, and I don't know, Glever Torres again, you can't say any bad about Jose Al-Tube. No, no, that was just a stick.

And thank you for the phone call. I don't take anything they were saying with much seriousness, except for the fact that if you pulled the camera away and said, hey, do you respect Jose Al-Tube? The answer is, hell yeah, because Jose A-Tubei has made your life miserable for three times. three different series. Rossi, I can't think of another team

that has owned the Yankees as much as the Astros have in the last 20 years. Now, the Red Sox have won two World Series. One of them was in an ALCS and they were down three-nothing and came back to win. But the Yankees don't know what it's like to taste a series or a super important game victory over the Astros. I mean, of all the dragons of sleigh, it is absolutely. I mean, the New York Yankees, I mean, that's super big stadium, number one media market, huge national fan base. And the Astros beat them.

And I've done it three times in the last five years. So you're saying the Astros are the Yankees daddies. I couldn't have said it better myself. 713-212-5-790. Jay, North East Side on 790. Hi, Jay. What's going on, Maddie? What's you got?

Hey, are the Astros playing the Washington Villjos? No, they're playing the nationals. Because everybody on that squad is hitting over 35 years old. And they got a 42-year-old in the bullpen. One more thing, Maddie. Why is Kyle Tucker on the roster? You know what? It's not going to matter.

I mean, who would you like to see him be replaced? Straw. Straws, speed. We can come in. Kyle's fast, too. No, come on, man. Sorry. We can't do this.

It's World Series game one. It's just. I mean, we're honest to talk about the 25th male on the roster. All right. Let's take some more phone calls. I think if they get better. 713-212. 5-7-90. The Texans Ross have a brand-new cornerback.

And the results on Twitter yesterday were not fantastic. And Aaron Reese help us talk about the newest member of the Texan secondary. You'll hear from him next as we go on the Texans beat. More on the Astros coming up as well. All throughout the day until three, this is the Matt Thomas show at 713-212-5-790. Houston's official sports cliche translator. I'm working hard. I'm trying to be a good teammate.

I'm trying to go out here every day. and do my job. Matt Thomas. Taking it one day at a time. Time is 1232. We are heavy, heavy on the Astros and World Series. Don't want to neglect other things that are going on around around town. That's a great time to be a sports fan.

And we'll get a perspective on the Nationals. Charlie Slows, their longtime Nationals play-by-play announcer, will be with us coming up at 1 o'clock today in about a half an hour to get a DC perspective on it. So that's coming up at 1 o'clock. Right now, we say, how to our game? good friend Aaron Reese, who's able to jump in a little earlier for us because we are so much into the Astros coverage, but Aaron was in Indianapolis. Level of disappointment on how the team in your mind, Aaron, goes to Kansas City, beats

one of the best teams on paper in the NFL, and then a penalty-filled, mental-erered-filled game against the Colts last Sunday. Yeah, I think in some ways, I mean, the penalty thing was just kind of a contingent. of the week before they attempt penalties in Kansas City, too. But I think kind of the difference ultimately was the red zone, the red zone issues for them. And even if the kicking was resolved, the red zone and the secondary was exposed a little bit more. Yeah. I mean, for me, it kind of just did, it seemed like, you know, rather than the Chiefs game being a turning point,

it was kind of just a further representation of that this Texan team can look really good when things are clicking right. but you can't trust them to be clicked at and write for maybe more than two weeks in a row. Aaron, here's the bet. Yesterday the team announces, or I guess it works its way through the national media that Garyon Connolly is now a Houston Texan. And so what we did is we, as responsible sportscasters,

Aaron, we go on a Google search. And it was very, very, very ugly. Now that we've had a chance to decompress a little bit and get the Twitter hate out there, tell me what you know about Gary on Conley and how much of an upgrade is this and is there any concern that his poorest season for the Raiders will transition over to the Houston Texans. Yeah, so I was talking to the athletics Raiders reporter, Vic Tafer, and he basically said that, you know, they traded him in part because, you know, he wasn't drafted by the sort of Gruden, Mike Mayock regime and didn't fit what they were wanting to do. And it just didn't really gel for them. And obviously, you know, you can look on Twitter or Google, whatever.

and see the low light. And, you know, I think the way that the way the Texans hope this works out is that, you know, they're taking a guy with a third round pick that was the first round pick only a couple years ago. They have one of them better, and maybe he'll be better with a better pass rush because Oakland had one of the, if not the worst, pass rushes in the league the year before. And, you know, that obviously influences kind of how a young guy especially is going to be playing. So, you know, that won't be as much of a problem playing behind the Texan defensive front. And, you know, they also needed just regardless, they needed some kind of building blocks for the future with the cornerback.

Jonathan Joseph is 35 years old. And, you know, in the last year of his contract, Bradley Robe was playing on a one-year deal. So really all they had prior to making this deal was, yeah, you know, Lonnie Johnson looks like he could be a starter in the league maybe and has played all right. But, you know, I was not the only guy they were walking into the off season with. And Connolly, they have control of them for up to three more years with the fifth-year option. and, you know, like I said, it was only a first round pick a couple of years ago, so the Texans are hoping that talent will show through. Doesn't it seem like, though, Aaron, like the Raiders, if he were good,

somebody you took in the first round, even it wasn't the same regime, a couple of years ago, and you're in a playoff hunt, and you obviously need some help in the secondary with what Aaron Rogers did to you last week. It doesn't seem like you would let go of any quarterback that you think is any good in this scenario if you're the Raiders. Right, yeah, I do agree with you in that regard. It very much, I mean, unless there are, you know, where personality disagreements or whatever, which I'm not,

I don't know. I don't cover the Raiders, but, you know, unless it was something of that nature. And that wasn't really what Vic Tate for our athletic reporter led on to me, at least when I was speaking to him. I mean, it seems like it just wasn't a fit movie for them schematically, but you would think, like you're saying, I mean, the guy, he's not that, he's pretty young into his career. And, you know, he wasn't a first round pick that long ago.

You would maybe give him more time to try to mold it. given that they are in the playoff hunt, then just punt on them so quickly and you have a third round pick out of them. Maybe the Raiders do it as a little bit of a high price to pay, but are a good return for them. Obviously, they decided one way or another it was worth it for them, but, you know, I kind of get it from both sides, I guess. I think this makes sense for the Texans that they didn't have the draft capital to acquire a, you know, a really big, one of the big time people like Jaylon Ramsey or Patrick Peterson. Like I said, they also needed kind of of some building blocks.

So they weren't going to just trade for a one-year or half-season rental or whatever on some veteran like Chris Harris, maybe. Aaron Reese with us from the athletic on the Matt Thomas show. So we tease about the fact that the Texans are operating like the New England Patriots, except for the winning part, clearly. They are trading one pick after the other like the Patriots do because the Patriots do not value trade picks, much draft picks, much like, frankly, the Houston Rockets don't with Daryl. The Texans are setting themselves up for a really, really skim draft, unless you are on the flip side of it saying,

look what these draft picks have done in order to the players have gotten back in return. How do you see that? Yeah, I did see some tweet that someone said, like, their 2020 draft or whatever was basically like Punzel and Stills and Conley or something in the first three rounds. and Duke Johnson, too. And I guess that is true, right? And that is kind of the, that is the way the Texans are viewing these transactions is that draft tax and kind of the sexy allure of the unknown is overvalued and that you would rather get assets, you know, what you're getting in return,

and just a better investment. And there is some truth to that by the same time, like, obviously, not so much the case with Conley, but like Tunsell, okay, so you gave up two first round picks who, you know, could be really good guys on chief contracts for now, someone who, because of the price paid form, is going to be the highest paid offense line in league history, almost certainly. So, you know, if you, if you are of the mind that you are a win now team and that you can do it this year, if you're a Laramie Tunsell away and Kenny Stills away, I guess like Garyon Connolly away, then you do it. But I'm not sure that the Texans are a good enough team that they are a win now team to make all these moves. The economy one at least doesn't feel quite as much of a win-now thing. Like I said, he has some years left on a cheaper deal. Last question for you.

And look, I think the Texans are going to be in a good spot against Oakland. This is a tough trip for them after having to go to Green Bay and lose, and we saw the secondary get burned. And the Texans against poorest defenses, i.e. Atlanta, have thrived. How do you size up the division? I mean, this is really no surprise where this is. But do you like Ross and I do flip your opinion about who's going to win the division almost every week? or did you see enough against the Colts to say, you know what?

This Jacoby Brissette is pretty damn good. The defense is getting back healthier. And, oh, by the way, their schedule back half of the season on paper is a lot easier than Texans. Yeah, you know, I mean, I don't know if I think for me it is definitely just like kind of a two-team race. I would say that. I know the Titans won and Jags won, but like I don't put a ton of stock in either of those victories. The Titans one, especially it's kind of wacky. and yeah, I just think

Brian Canaan Hill is going to play as well if he played on Sunday all season. So to me, it is kind of between the Colts and the Texans. And in terms of who wins it or who wins the division or who might get into the wild card, I do kind of toss back and forth on that either way. I think the Colts are a really good team. And I think what you saw on Sunday was that

while Jacoby percent might not challenge you downfield every week and throw a bunch of yards and they might just try to run it down your throat, the fact that they have a coach who can kind of put them in positions to succeed when they need to modify the game plan, and then he can step up and do what's needed, I think, says a lot about them. And, you know, I think that the Texans have some difficult games coming up. I mean, that London game, I think anything can happen in those London games just because of the wackiness of it. And then they have to play the Patriots and they have to play the Ravens.

I mean, they have some difficult games coming up. Well, labor to that, my friend. Thank you for the visit. And look forward to reading your stuff online at the Athletic with the Tehrase. Texans and the Raiders this Sunday. Talk again next week. Appreciate it as always. Thanks. You got it, Aaron Reese from the athletic, doing a really nice job on the Texans beat. So did you spend, how much time did you spend looking at Gary on Connolly highlights after the show yesterday?

About zero. Yeah, I was scarred when we were talking about it. I was scarred. The Raider fans don't like him. Yeah. His pro football focus grade is 55.2 or something. And what is the highest number? You can go, it's on a one to a hundred scale.

Okay, so if you are glass half full, you're saying better pass rush, the Raiders don't have it. The Texans do. Gary and Conley will not be nearly as exposed. What is this great? Yeah, okay, I guess. I don't think the Texans pass rush has been amazing this show. I think it's been okay. I mean, JJ Watts good and Whitney Merciless is better, but I don't think of it as some kind of, you know, crazy Chicago Bears level pass rush or something. Average offensive lines against them this year have had some success.

Now, the one thing the Texans continue to do is forced turnovers. The problem is you've had Deshawn Watson throw of what four interceptions in the last two weeks. And that is not the kind of turnover battle you want to get involved with. Because part of the reason why the Texans were so good last year was they were able to win the turnover battle week after week after week. All right, 1242 is our time. We visit with the voice of the nationals in 15 minutes. You guys next, 713, 212, 790. 5, 4, 3, at 2.

Hey, Joe Green. The show continues. Three corner nothing but. On Sports Talk 7-9. Nylon! On your Rockies. 1248, it is the Matt Thomas show. Sports Talk 790.

We'll go to the team hotel of the nationals in about 12 minutes. Kenny Loggins getting you ready, Matt? This isn't the song I was thinking of. Yeah, but if you want Kenny Loggins and you want to get people pumped, there's really only one choice. You don't think this is it?

It's the song? How about this? No. At 120 today. You play this as it. I'll play some sound bites, and I guarantee you I'll get people fired up.

All right, we'll try it. We can do an instaple after. That's fine, and I'm going to lose that instapol. And lose hard. You might win. Maybe Kenny Loggins is getting the people going. Have you met the Matt Thomas show audience?

They want me to lose often. That's not about wanting to you lose. It's about your wrong often. I think so. Only, in all seriousness, only negative so far of this series is unfortunately the situation involving Brandon Tom

and the assistant general manager A lot of he said she said He said she said right now But it is It was a number one story On this Outside of the Line show at 12 o'clock Now that's more, that's not about games per se It's more about trying to find other topics

Outside the lines Yeah literally outside of the lines Stuff around sports that's not directly sports Frankly I don't think it's going to affect any player It certainly isn't going to affect any of the 43,000 fans that are there But this is it's just it's ugly It's just it's too bad because I'd like for everything involving the Astros to be hunky dory,

and there's just too much good going on with the local baseball team to have the situation. So I hope, and again, I don't, I've only met, I've only had dinner with Brandon one time, and it was a group setting. I don't know him per se. I see him in the halls. I don't even know if he knows who I am. I certainly know what he does because he's the assistant to Jeff. It's, I really hope there's a massive misunderstanding on this, but it's just an incredibly bad.

look and I hope this gets resolved one way or the other. I think he did what he did. You got multiple people saying that he did, multiple local people and national people. I don't think they're all just making it up. Yeah, I just don't know what would. I think it's enthusiasm probably mixed with alcohol. Probably. That's what, indeed it, that's what he was doing.

That's the combination. I also don't think he needs to lose his job. There's people on Twitter. Everybody needs to lose their job. And Osuna needs to be released over this. I'm like, pump the brakes. Like, it's something that shouldn't have been done, but I don't know if it's somebody needs to lose their job over it.

Yeah, this, it is, it is taking a life of its own. And then there's something we can really discuss because we just don't know the truth on this. All I can say is, I just wanted to let it out there that say that this is a really, really, really big national story. And I don't know if it's because of the situation, if it's because you got sports, if it was the local smaller report newspaper. I mean, I know it really shouldn't matter what the size of the circulation is, but it happens to be with Sports Illustrated who carries a pretty big stick still in this world of sports journalism. I'm just going to be about the game tonight. I'm excited

as a Houston sports fan, as a sports talk show host. To me, it's about the games. And I hope this does get resolved one way or the other very quickly, whether the aster is going to do some more investigating on their own, whether there needs to be some, hey, we need of a meeting and kind of say, here's what I meant to say or did. But it's just kind of turned out to be an ugly way for things to get started for this World Series. 713-212-5-7-9. If you want to chime in on the conversation, I'd rather, you know, I'd rather talk about the

game itself. That's what we're going to have a lot of people on. Mike Stanton's going to join us in an hour from now. I'll give me his perspective, too. This Nationals baseball team, and Charlie, I think I'm going to ask us to Charlie. I don't think he's missed more than a handful of games in his life. Could you imagine being a part of a franchise and not missing but maybe 1% of the game? The only person I can think of today in current sports that has been around since the beginning of it is I think Mark Vandermere hasn't missed a Texans game ever.

It's impressive. Now, granted, it's 2002. Yeah, it's still 17 years. It's still 17 years. No cases of mono or childbirth or anything like that. No, I mean, he's got a child, wife. Sickness, you know, flight canceled or, you know, just what, do life's events? That's pretty damn impressive.

It is very impressive. So, where's your streak? You haven't missed a Rockets game in, you know, a couple years? I miss a Rockets game. Oh, yeah, I did. Sorry. That's okay. I'm missing for the Super Bowl coverage.

Oh. So, but no, I mean, I don't know. I'll have to ask Charlie when he joins us how many, how many games he hits, miss, because it can't be very, very many. All right, 713, 212, 7.18. The NBA is tonight. I mentioned it very briefly. The Rockets play Thursday.

This is really a strange time because I'm supposed to be like doing flip-flops going crazy over the start of the NBA because tonight's a sexy matchup. Now, New Orleans, Toronto is not sexy at all because Zion Williamson is hurt and Kauai Leonard's wearing clipper gear. so that game I could easily pass on. Lakers, Clippers. I mean, that's got megastars all over the place. Can sink your teeth into that one.

But you know what? I don't care. Well, that'll be happening. That's the late game, yeah, 930? You can catch a second half. I don't know I'll be doing the 10th inning show. You know these games. Oh, you will?

Yeah. Oh, good for you. So it's like a four-hour game, post-game to 1 o'clock in the morning, you know. Or you can catch it on a DVR. I think I'll wake up to a sports center. I'll do what you do. You'll watch one of those fast-forward things. Okay.

Let me go to Patrick in Spring on 790. Hello, Patrick. How you doing? Go, let's go on. Hey, so I don't know if you guys heard you guys talking about the assistant GM thing going on to Backel. And I saw that the Astros, or I was written a chronicle thing that Astros had released a statement. Did y'all see that? I did.

And then Sports Illustrated, I think this morning refuted that statement. This is a sad situation all around. This is, I really, and again, I don't know the guy. I really hope he wasn't that stupid. I really hope that he wasn't. I agree. And I know, you know, it's what he said, what he says, and the truth lies somewhere in between,

but that's just something you don't mess with those sensitive subjects. Yeah, I just think it's been an unfortunate, you know, a small side effect of what should be one of the most great sports times in Houston sports history. And I don't know. What I would hope, and not that the asteros have asked my opinion on this, and thank you for the phone call,

is I hope they would, because they refuted it pretty quickly. I'd rather them sit down, shut the door, and say, all right, what's really going on? What really happened? Yeah, the Astros came out quick with the we, this was misleading and all that type of stuff. But now, as I just put out, like you said, like 12 minutes ago, they said, SI unequivocally stands behind Stephanie Epstein and her reporting on the story published Monday night. And not that, again, having a few pops. should justify having a loose lips. I'm not trying to say that. I'm just saying that I think sometimes

things are said when alcohol is in play. I'm not that's not being that's being rather obvious, right? Yeah. So I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not saying that, that he had some champagne and now he gets to say what he wants. I'm not saying, I just, I hope if there is, uh, real fire to this that they do some sort of appropriate action. I don't endorse him being fired because you know what? People say stupid stuff. People say really stupid stuff. I don't think saying a stupid thing, especially if it's a first-time offense, will be warranted of a man losing his job.

But, you know, I don't want the Astros. And again, they haven't asked my opinion on this. I don't think the Astros should just sweep it on the rug and say, that's good. We're good. One more call before we get to an update on what's going on with the Nationals. We'll go to Brendan in Spring on 790. Hi, Brendan. Hey, how are you doing?

Good. What's going on? Honestly, I think, I mean, people get excited. than the time of the moment and probably just yell stuff out not even targeting some people. A lot of people are just digging to get offended these days. And I just, I don't know. I think the guy was just excited and yelled it out to no one in particular. But, you know, that's just my take on it.

But as far as, I mean, getting rid of As soon, I mean, we wouldn't have gotten there last year or this year without him. So, I mean, I think that's going a bit far. Well, no one's suggesting that. No, I don't think they are. And then that's just the extreme again. I mean, I think we're rational people in the world, okay? I think, right? Everybody, really smart teams, even really dumb teams, have rational people a part of them.

And if Tomlin really said what he said multiple times to try to get a reaction from these women, then he's got a, he needs to apologize and say, I screwed up. If that is indeed what happened. I don't think that's out of the art. I don't think you should get your pitchforks out looking for the guy to lose his job over this. That's what makes this story so interesting is that the Astros came out so quickly and just went deny, deny, deny. After multiple reporters have confirmed, multiple Houston Chronicle local reporters have confirmed the national report from Sports Illustrated. and now Sports Illustrated is backing their reporter as well.

So somebody is lying on this. And I tend to think, I know that everybody wants to go all fake news, and I'm seeing people tweeting and say, I need to see a video recording before I believe any of this, and they're Astros fans defending the Astros on this. Call me crazy. I'm defending the different reporters from different multiple organizations because they don't have anything to lose.

The Astros have something to lose. They have a reason to lie and say, well, this didn't happen this way. You guys are fabricating this story. It sounds very 2019, but if, I don't believe in the, if you don't have video, but it didn't happen, Carr.

Right, I'm either. I'm just not going to be about that way. Again, I hope that when everybody has some calmer heads in here, maybe some smart, smart people step in the room and say, you know what, this isn't going to go away,

and we need to, you know, vet this out. But you've made it even worse by coming out and say, I mean, do we have the Astros official statement? It's say they misleading and what was the language they used. I don't know what it was, but it was basically he was saying,

he was saying it in the spirit of the competition. He wasn't the spirit, trying to direct it. I have it if you want it. Go ahead. Okay, go ahead. The story posted by Sports Illustrated is misleading and completely irresponsible. An Astro's player was being asked questions about a difficult outing. Our executive was supporting the player during a difficult time. His comments had everything to do about the game situation that just occurred and nothing else.

They were also not directed toward any specific reporters. We are extremely disappointed in Sports Illustrated's attempt to fabricate a story where no one does not exist. That's strong language. So whatever, they must truly believe that this was just, Tom and just saying this just to say this. Okay. It's a, it's a he said versus what was heard and where it was directed.

And what was the intent? And I guess you can never really truly prove intense. That's right. And he could always say, you know what, I wasn't meaning it that way. It was taken that way. But this is a bad look. Either way. Is the Matt Thomas show.

104 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show. Game 1 World Series. Our coverage begins at 5 o'clock. 18 will be over at home plate bar and grill. I'll join them for the Astros on Dick show at 5. First pitch at 708. Joining us now for a perspective on the National League champions,

the longtime voice of the Washington Nationals here on the Matt Thomas show. It's Charlie Slows. Charlie, it's Matt. Thank you for the time. How many games have you missed ever of Nationals baseball? I believe it's five, two for each of my son's graduations from high school, and one when I was really, really under the weather. And that was back in 2007, I think.

Well, yeah. First of all, congratulations on a long streak. Second, if you deserve even a larger National League pennant ring, because you have been there from the lean times to where they are now. Take us through this ride from the wildcard victory to the Dund. domination in the National League Championship Series. This has to be just for you as a personal pinnacle. Great to not only see the team succeed, but having the fans there going crazy

and now having a chance to play for them in the fall classic. Yeah, an organization of the fan base that since 2012 has been very successful. They won four division championships, but as you know, they never were able to get past the division round in the postseason. So this year was a different route, the team that was expected. to be a division leading contender, got off to a terrible start, had a lot of injuries early in the year, and played poorly besides the injuries, and found themselves 12 games under 500 on May the 24th, and a pretty good distance, double-digit deficit out of the division

lead, and the fourth worst record in all of Major League Baseball, second worst in the National League at that time. It didn't look like this was going to be anywhere near this type season, Davey Martinez kept telling me, he said, we get our guys back and we get healthy, we're going to start, we'll take off. And he was right. I mean, they, they benefited from the return of Turner after a couple of months, plate hurt, broken finger, hit by a pitch trying to bunt early in the year in the first couple of games of the season and came back probably when he wasn't 100%. Still, you'll see him swing or set at the plate with one finger off the bat sometimes too.

Wow. So I don't know if he's 100% now at this point with that finger. When you break a bone and it's in a finger like that, it takes a long time to get right. And still was able to make throws from deep in the hold of short. So that was pretty amazing. You got Rendon back from a short stay on the injured list. Juan Soto was out at the time. Ryan Zimmerman had two long stays in the injured list with Planner fasciatus.

Juan Soto was out the same time as Rendon and Turner. So for a while, it looked like it was a B-line-up that they were sent. in Port St. Lucy to play the Mets in March from West Palm Beach. So they got through that. They got through, started to play better, cleaned up on some of the bottom feeders when they play them in the National League and the bottom of the American League Central when they played them in interleague play. And then just continue to play well the rest of the year, finish strong, winning the

final eight games the season, and entered the postseason 100% healthy. They were down three to one of the wild card game with Josh Hed. you're pitching in the eighth inning. That's not a good situation. They were able to come back. Soto got a big hit that should have only tied the game, but Trent Christian and the Brewers-Rife-Fielder. He thought he had to play at the plate instead of getting in front of the ball,

tried to charge and scoop. It took a bad hop by him, three runs scored. The Nationals were ahead in the bottom of the eighth inning and won that game and advanced the division series to play the Dodgers, where they were prohibited underdogs, although a lot of people thought if there was one team that could beat the Dodgers, that it would be the Nationals with their pitching. And in a five-game series, they, they was pitching du jour for them the way it was worked.

All of their starters outside of Annabal Sanchez, their top three starters all worked in the loose. Strasbourg and Wildcard game pitched three innings. Both Corbett and Scher pitched their relief in the division series against the Cardinals or against the Dodgers. And again, they set up their rotation even after the division series where they had to start with Auburn-Sanchez. and pitched a new no-hitter in game one in the Division Series against the championship. You don't get all these series mixed up. Division Series Dodgers, Championship Series Cardinals,

and then Scherzer was dominating a game two. And then they just want to really wipe out the Cardinals in four straight games. It was a pitching-dominated series by the Nationals starting pitching, and that's how they feel they're at their best going into this World Series. Charlie Slo's voice of the Nationals with us here on the Matt Thomas show. You mentioned a bunch of superiors. relatives. But there maybe was one guy that we as non-observers of the daily team thought was amazing. And that's Howie Kendrick, from a defensive standpoint, was a mess. But man, the lazy

pop fly that was supposed to bring home a run in the tie game turned out to be a grand slam. Where did this researches come from this salty, longtime majorly veteran? Oh, he couldn't have the line for, you know, defensively, when in the first game of the division series against the Dodgers. I felt like the whole team looked like they had a bit of a hangover from the cross-country flight and the excitement of winning the wildcard game, and they really didn't play well as a team in that game. And it wasn't just Holly Kendrick that had two errors at first base, and later kind of

had a hop-hast, the lip of the grass playing in the outfield of the overship that got through. He did make a base running mistake, but it wasn't just the resurgence for him in the postseason. This guy coming off Achilles' tendon tear last year, diligently to rehab when most people thought at age 35, heading for 36, it might be, you know, a career ending injury if he didn't make it back the start of the year. He told me he thought if he wasn't on a two-year deal with the NACs, he would have had a hard time finding a guaranteed deal going into 2019 coming off that kind of injury. But he was ready at the start of the year

and he got to play a lot because of the injuries to others more than they had plans for him. And, you know, any hitter that had 350 in the major leagues, he was tops in the major leagues with a 344 average and 17 home runs and 67 RBIs in the limited time that he played was outstanding so much so that he had to be in the lineup when the postseason started and he's the number five hitter batting behind Juan Soto and Anthony Rendon giving them the protection now the nationals have said they're going to use him as a DH in the first two games the series haven't seen a lineup yet but it's possible they'll play as droop cabrera at second and Ryan Zirmerman at first they also have Ryan Dozier with their starting second baseman

for two-thirds of the year before they signed Cabrera after he was released by the Texas Rangers. And he drove in 40 runs and 38 games for the Nationals over the final two months in the season. He gave them a pretty good bat as a pinch hitter, as a switch hitter off the bench that wasn't needed a whole lot in the first three rounds of postseason. So now with the VH, she figures to get a chance to play and be a factor in this series. Last question for you, Charlie. The Astros have had their struggles with a lot of offensive players. just postseason baseball, it's October, it's great pitching. Is there a national that has struggled in this postseason

that all of a sudden if his bat wakes up, it gives you guys some additional enthusiasm and optimism about me and me beating the Astros? Well, you know, I don't think there's any one guy. Their catchers have not hit a whole lot. John Goams had a two-run single of that seven run, first inning against the Cardinals. But Kurt Suzuki has struggled to hit so far.

He was hurt at the end of the year in the final month of the season. was a very, very clutch hitter. And you guys know him from playing in the American League as well. He was a big-time clutch hitter for the Nationals during the regular season, splitting the catching chores with Golems. So if he gets going, he hits in big spots and he hits really good pitching, much of the way that Halle Kendrick does. So just another one of these gray beards at 35, 36 years old,

on the oldest roster in the major leagues that has defied some things about age. I think age and experience plays. well at these times with a mix of the younger players like Trey Turner and of course Juan Soto and Victor Robles. And, you know, Soto hasn't had a ton of hits. He's been pitched around a lot in the postseason. He seems to be the one guy. The other teams have said it's not going to beat them.

He takes his walks. So if he gets a chance to swing the bat, he certainly could do big time damage. Charlie, thank you very much for the time. Looking forward to hearing some of the highlights of your calls tonight on the national side of things. And we really appreciate you spending some time and enjoy our city while you're here. very good glad you guys are taking care of my old friend todd callous since he's how about that he's he's just dying to call an inning of something it's it's kind of strange

how the national tv folks don't get to do the local i should say local folks don't get to do games but yeah it's tough for the tv folks after they worked the entire season but i know todd was happy to come here after all of his years in tampa bay especially with the heritage of his late dad sure are you starting this career here Todd and I were together at the beginning in Tampa Bay in 1998. I was there for their first seven years. Wow. Do you miss the NBA at all?

Because I remember as a young man watching you doing bullets games back when they used to be called the bullets. Wow. You're taking me way back. That's almost like a different lifetime. I know. Yeah. That was 86 to 97. That's a long, long time ago.

I miss it at times, but, you know, baseball was always my first love and what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be. And, you know, the way this season is, when you get through baseball season, for me, you don't want to do much of anything else, but spend time with your family and relax. So I'm glad I'm going to have a short off season this year. Yeah. It's really strange for me because I do the Rockets Radio play by a play on the road. And game seven could be the same night as the Rockets and Wizards playing in downtown D.C. So it's going to be very, very out of it. It happens that way.

Thank you for the time. Charlie, I really appreciate it. You're welcome. All right, Charlie Slows, long-time voice of the Washington Nationals. And before that, the bullets slash wizards. We appreciate him spending some time with us here on Sports Talk, 790. Tyler White here. Back to Matt Thomas.

And it is gone. And Sports Talk 790. Home of Astros baseball. I didn't ask Charlie about Anthony Rendon being here in town because that's easy. I could do that Anthony Rendon is excited by going against the team and grew up watching. Right? How many questions he's he feels? about Rice and Lamar High School this week.

I felt like I did my job by not asking about that. Good job, Matthew. I was trying. All right, this is Sports Talk 7 out in the Matt Thomas show. Again, thanks to Charlie Slow's The Voice of the Nationals for joining us for a few minutes. We talked some football with Dana Holkerson and 10. Mike Stanton on the Astros and the World Series at 2 o'clock. And then believe it or not, that they get 252, which is all things about the Washington Nationals.

Jinks. Astros in 5? I got Astros in 6. Isn't that the easy one to go with? Is it? Most teams are things done in six. Well, I picked them in six to win the last series, and I was right. Okay.

That's what I'm saying. I think if you don't, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Let's go to Lee and Montrose at 121. Hi, Lee. Hey, guys. I was one of hoping, because I'm not very familiar with the Nationals position players. If you could kind of break down matchup, match up, you know, ours versus theirs, and kind of let us know, because I'm sure there's a lot of.

people out there that don't know about them. And also, you made me laugh when you said we're surrounded by a bunch of rational people. Maybe people that like rationalizations in the words of Jack Nicholson, I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability. Thanks, guys.

Go Stros. I'm not familiar with that line. He's talking about women, I think, in that line. And it's not from as good as it gets or something. I think you're right. Yeah. Favorite Jack Nicholson movie? quickly.

The Shining. One flew over the cuckoo's nest. Yeah. Easy writer. I love to Miss Joker. I would take one flew over the cuckoo's nest over Shining. Okay. How'd you like his supporting role in terms of endearment?

It was great. All right, real quick. First base, Zimmerman versus Gouriel. Advantage guerriel. Zimmerman just had, it's just old. He's breaking down. It's true. Impactful.

Kendrick versus Altuve. Let's move on. Not that Howie hasn't had some impact. Well, so is a young man named Altuve as well. Trey Turner, Carlos Correa, the shortstop spot. I stay advantage, Correa. Okay. Anthony Rendon, Alex Bregman.

Ooh. That's an actually, that's a good one. Um, hasn't had the postseason numbers that, the regular season numbers have come into play. Rondon's been just filthy. 375 with five extra base hit 7 RBIs during the playoffs for Rundon. They're basically clones of each other. Or Bregman is a clone of Rendon then since he predates him. Who's a better defensive player?

I don't know enough about it. Yeah, I mean, Rendon's really known as really good. I can't say I've been breaking a bunch down a bunch of Rendon picks. Can we go even? Sure. Okay. Zizuki or Gomes against Torinos and Maldonado. I probably would have to go offensive lead on the national side, right? Yeah.

I guess. Juan Soto and Michael Brantley in left field. Brantley game six. What a freaking hero he has been. Soto's more power. A lot more power. That's a good one too. Talking about a young phenom.

You heard about Glaber Torres only being 22. He's only 20. Juan Soto, you know, the 20-year-old is going to be married. By the way, take a drink every time Joe Buck says that. You're going to have to help me out because I won't be listening. But the point being is at any time that Juan Soto is, Soto's age gets brought up like Glaver Torres is, you've got to go with that. Let's be, let's lean nationals on that.

You okay with that? Victor Robles and George Springer in Centerfield. Springer. Yeah. Yeah. Especially this is his time to shine. I hope so. Previous World Series MVP.

Adam Eaton versus Josh Redick presuming slash not Kyle Tucker. Yeah, Josh, Josh all the way, right? Probably, yeah. All right. All right. Yeah, I guess so. This is an interesting one. As Drubel Cabrera,

Yordon Alvarez, if you're talking about DH. Matt Adams is a left-handed hitter for them that will D.H. Well, it's going to be anybody over the, I mean, Yordon hadn't done squat, right? You got a deal in realities here. The realities is Yordaun Alvarez, there's a tremendous leap of faith being applied

by AJ to put him in the seventh spot and bat him here tonight. And I guess the presumption is tomorrow too. So you're going with? Well, regular season isn't anything close, but I mean, what is Cabrero is in the postseason?

Our guy's going to show up. You promise? No, I don't. All right, starting rotation. Okay. Here it is. Stay with me on this. Okay.

Okay, here we go. Okay. Cole. Verlander, Granky, bully. Peacock, or Orchiti. We'll call it a bully. Okay.

Versus, Scherzer. Yes. Strasbourg. Mm-hmm. And then we're going to go with, who we go with, Anamel Sanchez. Patrick Corby. Patrick Corby. Probably Corbyn 3, Sanchez, 4.

Right. Top heavy Astros. Length Nationals. Mm-hmm. I still would say Astros. But it's closer than when you would think it would be. Annabel Sanchez made 40 starts this year, a year under four.

I'm going with the, I'm going with the Nationals. Very slight edge. Bullpen, the Nationals' ERA during the regular season was almost six. That's why you saw Corbyn out of the bullpen. That's why you've seen Scher out of the bullpen. That's why you've seen Strasbourg. You can't do that right now.

Astros bullpen gets a huge, huge vote of confidence after what they did, especially in the bullpen game. Bullpen by a landslide to the Astros side. Is that fair? So there you have it. You wanted it, Lee. You got it. We did the best job as we could breaking down position by position. But baseball doesn't work that way.

And that's why it's going to be a fun series. Oh, AJ. AJ. Yeah, not even close. 713-21-2-5-790 7-13-21-2-5-7-90 if you want to reach us via Twitter at SportsMT, at SportsMT, at SportsRV, and at Pro Nick Lowe. This is Ryan Anderson. Kicks at quarter three Anderson.

They need it, and they get it. Sports Stock 790 is your home for Houston Rockets basketball. I like hearing Ryan Anderson highlights. We don't get to do that very much. He made the roster. Rockets start the season Thursday at home against the hands. Milwaukee Bucks. Big Thursday in the city of Houston.

Cougars taking on the SMU Mustangs, a man that hopefully will get back-to-back wins for our squad. And his kids will be Dana Holgerson. He joins us here courtesy of the joint chiropractic. Dana, first of all, thanks for joining us on this Tuesday. How crazy is this week having to get back after a long trip and then having to play a game in like 48 hours? Well, we're based on how our card,

conference has realigned all these games for us and aligned all these games for us here this year. Obviously, the start to the season, they put us on a Thursday night earlier in the year coming off a Friday night game against Washington State, you know, which I wasn't very happy about that. They could have put that game somewhere and gave us a home game. We didn't play a home conference game until mid-October, so not real happy with the conference, honestly, with their scheduling. the Yukon trip was something that was foreign to our team. None of them had ever been to the East Coast before, you know, and it was a four-hour flight. We got there at like 7 p.m. Eastern time and, you know,

had to get up at 6 o'clock Eastern time. So it wasn't at that hotel very much. It sounds like I'm making a lot of excuses. But truth of the matter is our guys just ignored all that. We played our first noon game, which was 11 a.m. Central. So we kind of slept walk through the first half, got their attention at halftime, played a little better in the second half, and won the game, you know, which is the ultimate key. That's right. After that, we got back on that airplane and flew four hours back home.

I got in here about 9 o'clock and went straight to work working on SMU. It's a tough turnaround. I haven't done a five-day turnaround in about probably since the last time I was here at the University of Houston. a reason why major conferences don't allow their teams to do it. Well, we will hopefully get that fixed down the road. You said adjustments at halftime. Is it a tongue lashing? It is a, hey, I got to show you all something.

I'm always very curious, and you can always say, hey, Matt, that's between us boys. But I just love hearing what guys like yourself tell the kids at halftime. When you felt like clearly you were the better football team, but we're just not executing to the level that you'd want to see from your squad. Yeah, it was a little. bit more of a, I didn't tongue lash him. I didn't, I didn't really like just yell and scream at them and, you know, I think all that's kind of over-exaggerated coaches going nuts and punching

things and breaking clipboards and all that. I think it's way over-exaggerated, but just a lot of motivational stuff, just a lot of talk, just a lot of life guys, you can do this, you can snap out of it, you know, we're not losing, we're winning 10 to 7. You know, I know everybody thinks that we're just going to show up and beat Yukon as bad as we possibly can. Let me tell you something. That atmosphere was good. I mean, you know, Yukon's only several years removed from being a part of the Big East and going to the Fiesta Bowl.

So, you know, they had a really good atmosphere. Is their homecoming? They had about probably 30,000, 40,000 people there is an awesome day for awesome northeast autumn fall autumn day for football. their guys were ready to play. They kind of saw a little bit of a wounded University of Houston team with the amount of injuries that we had and a true freshman walk-on quarterback, and they're like, this is our chance to be able to win,

so those guys played hard and they played well. And, you know, they're fully funded, and they got a full staff with 85 scholarships and all that as well. A lot of people forget that, but the people we play have as many or more resources than we do. So I was just glad that our guys didn't cave. We played hard. We kept going.

We kept playing. We played well enough to go win. At the end of the day, you go win a college football game on the road. It's something to be proud of. All right, all my friends are asking, how's Clayton's hamstring? Do you feel more confident about him being able to go this Thursday? Yeah, I do. I mean, if we would have played him in that game,

because of the quick turnaround. And he was probably a little bit more ready to go. honestly against Yukon than he was against Cincinnati. But, you know, he felt good enough to go against Cincinnati, but you set yourself back when you do that. When you pull the trigger and you're not quite ready to pull the trigger with the hamstring, it sets you back. So if he would, it went against Yukon,

then they would have been probably extremely doubtful that he would have been ready for SMU. So, you know, I didn't want to keep dealing with that every single week. I mean, he's our starting quarterback. He's a good player. We want him to get out there and play at 100%. And until he can do that, we're not going to do that. You know, he just, he can't, even against Cincinnati, I admire him for going out there

and playing the way he played. His timing was off and he was a little jittery in the pocket just because he hadn't had any practice snaps. So he practiced, you know, he's already practiced twice this week. He's going to be out there again today. I don't see no reason to be able to hold him there this week. Yeah. It looks like he's a go.

That's really encouraging. Last question. I was getting ready for the pregame show for 3. Thursday, and listening to Coach Dykes and some of the things he was saying, they ran 109 offensive plays, Dana, you already know this, against Temple this past Saturday. I would think a number one key is there's no way in the world you want your defense on the field for 109 plays this week. No, I don't.

It's just what they do and what they believe in. They have the depth and the players to be able to do so. They got, you know, Michelle is a quarterback that's used to doing that type of a thing. They've got two outstanding receivers that can make big plays down field. They, you know, good enough up front and good enough in the run game to where they can just kind of move the ball and snap it and get first downs, that sort of thing. We've got to be careful about that. We're about as thin as any team in the entire country right now.

Everybody knows that. So we can't afford that many snaps. And we've only snapped the ball 52 times against Yukon last week. We're only averaging about 60 snaps a game. I've got to do what we've got to do to shorten the game because of our bodies. and not being able to hold up. So ultimately, it's kind of up to the defense. They got to get off the field, you know, especially on third downs,

which we've been kind of average at. We're average against Yukon at that. But get off the field and then offensively, you know, I'm going to try to control the game as much as I possibly can, especially when you've got such a high-powered offense coming in like SMU is. Amen to that. Dana, congratulations on the victory. Really thankful that you're able to join me today

and best luck on third tonight, friend. Appreciate it. Okay, Matt. appreciate it. No walks today, though. I got work to do. Short week. I didn't even ask. I knew you're in the office. I just knew it. Do you have lunch in front of you? That's the most important thing. What are you eating right now? I don't know. It's always a surprise. They bring snacks every day, which before practice, we get some sort of a snack, which is usually just like a sandwich and chips from somewhere. Hundreds of places that we can choose from here in Houston. Perfect. Thank you, friend. Appreciate it as always. You got it. Dana Hogger's here with us here on the Matt Thomas show, courtesy of our friends at the Joint Chiropractor, the official chiropractor of the University of Houston. Thursday night, busy sports night. They're going to celebrate 30 years of Andre. You know, Andre We won the Hesman won the Hinesman won. Congratulations to him. Yes. You know, you still get a vote for the Hizman. You always get a Hizman vote. I think it's really cool.

You win for like 60 years. Like, I'd like to win a Marconi at some point because then I could then vote on a Marconi. Do you get, is that how that works? No, I'm just making that out. All right, let's go back on the phones. I've got a lot of Astro folks to get to, including Mike Stanton on the Astros at 2 o'clock. Let's say hi to, in terms of longest wait, Mike's and Katie at 140 on 790. Hello, Mike.

Yes, Mike. I'd like to know why is the roof not being open tonight. We have a beautiful weather for tonight, and we're in the spotlight of everybody watching the Houston Astros, the best team in the world with a nice stadium with an open roof. Well, Mike, you ready for the bitter, hard truth? Okay. The players like the roof closed. They like the ball traveling better.

They don't want to worry about any sort of weather conditions affecting a ball, whether it's slices or dices. They just, they like the creature comforts. And if you won over 60 games at Minute Maid Park, which 90% of those games have under the roof closed, the Astros are not going to fight with their players who just want to make a minute. American League pennant about whether or not they want the roof open or not. It's beautiful for television, but the most important thing is what happens between the lines and the guys, I think pound for pound would want the roof closed. And that's the reason why the decisions made it for that.

Okay. Good answer. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate it. As I said before yesterday, we've had this between the Texans and the Astros. If I'm building a sports stadium out with any city, I'm not doing retractable. This seems like a giant waste of money. It is.

Now, the Colts had a retractable roof this past Sunday when the Texans played the Colts. So there are some stadiums that open the roofs up. They open it up? Good for them. To his point, what is the first pitch to temperature supposed to be? 70 degrees, I think. I don't know. We'll have to go through our weather center.

How amazing would that be to have the picturesque view of downtown Houston at 70 degrees? But remember, George Springer, Jose Altube, Josh Redick, Alex Bregman, Yule Gariel. They don't care what foxes at camera angles are. They want that ball to travel because you know the baseballs in the postseason are a little dicey. They don't travel as much. Allegedly. They want the great equalizer. Let's see.

Hourly, it should be about 82 degrees of first pitch. No, not that hot. No way. 82 at 7 o'clock? I see 80. Hold on. What's today? Today is Tuesday.

22nd. Okay. Maybe I'm reading the wrong day. Okay. Well, sorry. At least you tried. I did. All right. 142 is our...

70 at 7.5. Yeah, 70 degrees. I mean, that's why the roof was retractable for the moments like this. Yeah, that should be perfect. See, I wasn't here in 2005. There was a big deal about the roof being open and closed, right? The MLB stepped in. The Astros wanted it closed.

They made them open it because of they felt like it was louder with it closed. That's really why they wanted it. And the MLB said, no, you're going to open it up. And by the way, I think Major League Baseball still controls it. I still think the Astros, I mean, the Astros can't say MLB, no, we're closing it. Yeah, they have a set. The Astros can say, hey, this is what we want, and then EMLB can say, we'll give it to you

or we want. This is Carlos Correa. Back to Matt Thomas. That's a poor stock 7-90. It's your home. A Vassos baseball. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-1-2-5-7-90. With Ross and Nick, I'm Matt. This is Astros not on deck.

We're like the super, super pregame show. I was thinking about 5 o'clock today. We're in the hole. We're like the leadoff. We're the George Springer. What's further back than the hole? On deck is next. Oh, you're talking about like, oh, we're a bunter or no, we're the batting cage.

Okay. We are Astros batting cage. We're spring training almost. That's true. That's true. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-1-2-5-790. Let's go to Melanie and Sugar Land on the Matt Thomas show.

Melanie, how are you? I'm great, Matt. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. I, first of all, enjoy your show, but I wanted to ask if you've got any information since Saturday night on Ryan Presley. About whether he's going to play or not? Yeah.

I mean, where is he? Is he benched? No, he's fine. He is on the 25-man roster for the World Series. Now, does that mean he's ready to go tonight or tomorrow? I don't know. We'll get probably a further update when AJ speaks to the media later this afternoon. But his initial, and this sounds kind of weird because, Melanie, I'm not a doctor.

I just play one on the radio is that he had said that some of the scarring had kind of broken off from his knee surgery. Scar tissue, yeah. Scar tissue. And that was the concern. It wasn't necessarily structurally. So he was way more optimistic after the game Saturday. And I know the Astros did a little bit of an update yesterday, but apparently everything is good because AJ did release a 25-man roster and Ryan Presley was on it. Oh, great.

having to be in a person coming out of knee surgery myself just recently, I totally sympathized and I didn't know where he was and what kind of surgery he had in detail, but that makes me more hopeful. And I'll think good things. And I'm going to be at the game tonight and we'll see what happens. Thank you very much for the phone call. Appreciate you listening. Yeah.

That is a good sign. I mean, because when he got the one out, everybody went, oh, no. Because here's this, and it just shows you how strange baseball works is that, all right, Ryan Presley comes and gets the previous game. It's those two big outs. And the Ryan Presser that we know and love is back. When in reality, he hadn't been a whole lot back. He hadn't pitched a whole lot.

And the previous two appearances before that, he won very good. It seems like he's not 100% healthy either. Yeah, there's any help he can provide. It would be great. Yeah, there's nothing that shows that I think he's a guy that's going to pitch multiple games in the series. So that's why maybe AJ has got to pick that one right spot to use him. But he's got a good bulldog attitude to it.

Will Harris has kind of taken over that Presley role of I don't care what you put on the base paths. I'm going to get these people. I think he's been their best reliever all season, and he's been really good in the playoffs. More reliable than probably or sooner? Will Harris? Yeah.

Leverage situations a little bit different. Because, again, ninth inning is a strange beast. It really is no matter who you're talking about. But as far as I'm concerned, here is a guy that was not public enemy number one, but he certainly wasn't a favorite astraliever last year, Will Harris. And he's been fantastic.

By the way, if you're just joining us, Chris Tivinsky is on the roster for the World Series and that DeBrian Obrayu is off. Let's go to Jim in North Houston on 7-90. Hello, Jim. Hey, what's up, guys? I've missed you.

I used to get a chance to listen to you each and every day because I was in sales, but I got promoted, and now I'm a sales manager, don't get to listen to radio all the time. So I've been missing you guys bad. Thank you very much.

Nice you to say that. Say, so I got the update on Ryan Presley. That's good and worrisome news at the same time and everything. But, you know, let's see what Da Vinci can do. You know, he's done good in the past. But I do got a little correction. I'm always a little scared to correct you guys because you're so knowledgeable. But I think that Ross said you guys were in the hole as far as on-deck shows and everything.

Okay. And actually, actually, all the baseball teams. terms come from sailor terms because all the early baseball players were sailors. And so it's on deck, on the deck. And it's in the hold. In the hold. I never knew that. Yeah.

So, you know, a little baseball history there. Maybe you guys can look at that. That's what I was taught. So maybe I'm wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. But I think it's in the hold. Like you're in the hold of the ship, ready to come up on deck. Wikipedia says in the hole, but Wikipedia's also.

Pete can lie to you sometimes. It could be like a bastardization. Like it's really champing at the bit and not chomping at the bit. Who says champing at the bit? Nobody says that. That's the actual correct phrase. Is it ambidextrous or ambidextrous? It's ambidextrous.

Are you sure? Nobody says ambidextrous. You're literally the only one that says ambidextrous. Hey, thank you guys so much. I can hear good on my phone. I want to get back to the radio. Thank you. Thank you for you.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, there's an article, MLB.com. No one's quite sure how in the hold became in the hole, but it did. So there you go. I was technically I wasn't wrong. No, I've heard in the hole all my life. Yeah.

That on golf courses too. Way too many times. But apparently the origin is in the hold. You learn something new every day. Oh, yeah. Yeah, remember, there is not another radio show in the marketplace that's going to butcher phrases than this one. Mainly from me.

Yeah. What was it about running the gambit? That was a good one. Yeah, I'm just saying you. I'm honest. We appreciate you, Matt. I mean, I'm not, you know, I can BS you on some things. That's why America loves you, Matt.

But not everything. All right, 713, 212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. And let's continue on more on the Astros stuff. I do think there's a lot of people that aren't familiar with the Washington Nationals. You know what I'm saying? I guess so. They've got a lot of high-profile players, though.

I think they've been fantastic to watch this postseason. As far as National League teams, and big time, especially when Bryce Harper was there. But, I mean, most people know who Scherzer is. Zerzberg. Top-heavy. Yeah. And then Patrick Corbin was a big signing over the offseason. Ryan Zimmerman was good until Father Time kind of caught up with them a little bit.

That's true. I think the Howie Kendrick story is amazing. I mean, for a guy that was, as Charlie Slow said a few minutes ago, didn't even think he was still going to be in baseball. And all of a sudden, he goes to Washington. and just kind of, I don't want to be mean, but butchers any defensive position he's in to hitting all these massive big-time hits. I don't know if I'll forget for a long time

the grand slamming hits against the Dodgers to help beat them. I mean, against the Los Angeles freaking Dodgers. It was huge. So, yeah, that'll be, it'll be a great story for them to have made the World Series. And it's funny because when you have Charlie's, Lozon, you're thinking, okay, he wants a World Series ring very badly.

He doesn't want to be known as just the National League Champions. But I didn't want to certainly phrase and say, hey, good luck. Hope you guys win. I mean, I was just like, I wanted to say, good luck. Hope you enjoy your National League ring. Why don't you say that? Start talking some trash to him. I'm not a trash guy.

You're not? No. That's true. You're a lover, not a fighter man. Yeah, that's right. All on new is facilitate relationships. Before we get to Mike Stanton, let's say how to Paul and Cyprus on 790. Hi, Paul. I want to address. That guy was talking about Kyle Tucker, why he's not

be on the roster versus like Maastrow. I think Tucker gave you speed like Straud, but I think you look better bad, and he's a left-handed bat. And when they get to the National League, they're going to have more pinch hitters because they're going to be pulling in pitchers right and left. Yeah, the reality is who is going to pinch hit in theory in the National League parks? Yarnan Alvarez probably going to be first. Yes. Then probably Elimis Diaz, second. Then third, you'd go Kyle, and then fourth you would probably, well, yeah, you'd probably go, would you go, would you go, call him or Mariznick?

And that probably Mariznick, because you put them on there for defensive purposes if you were to do that. Yes. I mean, here we are. I agree. I mean, we're doing semantics here. We're talking about pinch hitters in nationally ballparks. I hope it doesn't come down to that, but it might. Oh, not.

I just don't, yeah, thanks, Paul. I just don't think we're going to get a whole lot of Kyle Tucker sightings. I think the moment is really, really. big for him right now. He'll pinch hit in there and there. And the fact is that when he's swinging for the pinata, you know, will he actually hit one? He'll be better?

Gotta be. Look, hopefully Kyle Tucker is going to have a nice long 15-year major league career. So we can joke about the pinata hit eventually. Okay, good. It just won't be right now. Right now it's not funny. No, it's not funny at all. All right, 713, 212-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-9. Yes is the Matt Thomas Show. A 201 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show. We will be visiting here shortly with Mike Stanton of AT&T Sportsnet. Astros tonight on deck starts at 5. Adam and Adam will be at home plate bar and grill in one hour from now. 713212-5-790.

Those of you on hold will get to you in a manner of moments. right now, as promised, our good friend, really underutilize this time of year. That's why we've got to steal 10 minutes of his busy day. Mike Stanton of AT&T Sportsnet, a man who knows about postseason baseball all too well. Mike, thank you for joining me again. Walk me through a player's night before a game one of a World Series, please, if you don't mind. You know, actually, Matt, it's really not that indifferent than any other playoffs. To tell you the truth, the one that's probably the most,

exciting and you lose the sleep on the most is that first postseason game. Because now you're talking about, you know, you've already played, you know, potentially 12 games through two series. So, you know, it is exciting, but I don't think it's to a point that you lose sleep, unless you're like a guy like Chris Devensky that, you know, just got put on the playoff roster. So he really hasn't been out there yet. And, you know, he's got that, that new car feeling.

Before we get to the games, from a logistical standpoint, I know that the Super Bowl, the players are having to worry about tickets and that kind of thing. Does that become an additional stress level, especially if you are having a home game like the Astros will have tonight and tomorrow? Oh, sure does. You know, that's one of the things, and there's several, but that's one of the things that every player has to learn to cope with. You know, one of the things that as you get more and more experience in the postseason, you figure out that, you know, you know, the game hasn't changed. You know, in some cases, it might even be a team that you've even played during the regular season. So once you get in between the white lines, everything the same.

It's all the external distractions that that can cause real havoc. And, you know, as much as you love your own family and everything, that is part of it. You know, you have people coming out of the woodworks wanting tickets. Now, I think they're much more limited in their availability for tickets than, you know, say, you know, we were in late. like the early 90s, we could kind of get whatever we wanted. Yeah.

You know, you just, you know, what I ended up doing was I limited it to 10, you know, or maybe 10 to each side of the family and then said, you know what,

you guys figure it out and send me the list, but all you're getting is 10. And I know it sounds harsh, but, you know, you got, you have to draw the line somewhere or,

you know, you end up getting so many people and it just becomes too big of a hassle. Mike, stay with us from 18T Sports Network, this on the Matt Thomas show. Tell me something sneaky about the nationals. Look, we've, we've paid attention during this post as an obviously, but I'm not going to be honest. I'm going to be honest with the inside. I didn't spend a lot of time watching them in May, June,

and July. What scares you about them going into the series? You know, they're actually pretty similar to the Astros, to tell you the truth. This should be a much more of a traditional old school type world series. And what I mean by the. that is starting pitching is paramount on both teams. You know, the bat, the Astros, I think, have a little bit deeper bullpen. You know, the Nationals, that has been an Achilles heel for them. Oh, gosh, not just for this year, but for the last several years, but they have a couple guys at the back end of their bullpen now that they really trust. I think that could, what could also cause a problem is they have a little bit different lineup than the Astros are

used to seeing. You know, the Yankee lineup, big, big, big power. A lot of swing and miss. Well, there's not a lot of swing and miss in the Nationals lineup. They don't have nearly as much power as the Astros or, you know, even the Yankees. But you're talking about a team that has a lot more contact. They run a lot more. You've got two jackrabbits at the top and Turner and Eaton. Those guys can cause some havoc if they're getting on base.

So it's a little different approach that the pitching staff is going to have to have in order to get through this nationals lineup. If you were to walk in the clubhouse and Yordon came over to you and said, hey, Mike, you're a longtime majorly pitcher. You've watched 100 of my games so far this year. What's wrong with me? What would you tell him? You know, I think what he needs to do is the worst thing you can do as a player is think. And I think that's really what he's doing.

The confidence is shot a little bit. Okay, that comes with going over. But it looks like to me he's trying to guess. he's trying to predict what the pitcher is pitching is throwing instead of just reacting to it. You know, he's been susceptible to the high fastball where when he was rolling in the regular season, he was laying off of it or fouling it off. But what we've really seen is they've attacked him down below the zone with the breaking ball and he's just committing to it way too early.

So I would say just, you know, go back to basics. Go back to just hunting the fastball. and, you know, what, you know, I'm a coach also, Matt. I don't know if you knew that about me. But one of the things I tell the kids that I work with, I go, okay, what's the first step of hitting? And, you know, they'll say the load and the hands and all kinds of different. And that's not the answer. The answer is, first you have to see the ball.

And I think that he's committing to swinging prior to the pitch even coming, that he's committed to, oh, he's going to throw me a fastball here. And he's not actually seeing the ball before he reacts to it. Is that mental or mechanical right now? All mental. It's 100%. Hey, this guy's got one of the, and I'm not just saying this because he's an astro. This guy's got one of the sweetest swings in Major League Baseball. I mean, we rarely see him off balance.

When I say rare, I mean almost never. Even through this time he's going through, he still hasn't had a whole lot of real ugly swing. So his balance in his swing is outstanding. So this is all mental. This is all confidence and as quickly as it can change. Because, you know, he swung the bat okay in the DS series. You know, he got six hits in that series. It wasn't until the LCS that things really started going awry.

And it can turn around as quickly as one good swing also. So he just needs to remember how good he is and the numbers that he's put up and that he deserves to be there and just get back. back the basics of seeing ball, hitball. You as a longtime Major League of Reliever have been through thousands of different scenarios, both regular and postseason. When you were playing, were there such things as bullpen games? Because I don't really remember.

I mean, anything close to that as a player? And the reason why I ask you that is, if you are in those spots, let's just use some names, Smith, let's use Peacock, let's use Harris. How do you prepare for that, knowing that you might be in a scenario, say, in the fourth or fifth inning, when you never. in a regular season game would be put in that kind of position. Well, man, you never really called it a bullpen game, you know, but anytime you had your fourth starter out there,

you know, what are you really looking for from a fourth starter? You're looking, you know, best case scenario is, you know, five innings, just give up a couple runs. We're in the game. So, you know, in a way, those are bullpen games. But there were situations in decisive games that, you know, I remember one in particular. The Yankees were playing the Oakland Athletics.

Andy Pettit, they beat Andy Pettettett up bad in game four of a five-game series. In New York, we had to fly all the way to Oakland. Joe Tori came to me before, actually even before batting practice. He goes, and I was a guy that used to go out kind of in the middle of the game into the bullpen. And he said, listen, in this game, we don't know what's going to happen. I need you out there early in this game just in case. Yankees end up scoring four or five innings off of Gil Heredia in the very first inning. Strawberry hit a big home run to Straightaway Center.

But to the athletics credit, they chipped away at Andy. I think it was Andy. Maybe it was Andy that got beat up tonight. Whoever the pitcher was, they chipped away, scored a few runs. And I end up pitching like two and two-thirds innings and came in the third. You know, so, you didn't really call it bullpen. It wasn't nearly as out there to the public. but in the postseason, those are the kind of things that happened.

But as far as starting a reliever, no, I don't remember any of that. You were teammates with Hall of Famers. You went against Hall of Famers. And I'm not trying to put Garrett in that mix because he's still got a long way to go. But right now, as we speak to Mike Stanton from AT&T Sportsnet, tell me another pitcher that has been as dominant in a particular time frame, really since what, mid-May, that Garrett has been to write? now where there has been no signs of any off nights, doesn't have his stuff, he just comes to the

mound, and there is this over level of confidence for all the right reasons that even if he gets up a run, that's going to be it. Yeah, there's been a couple. You know, Max Scherzer is definitely one that has come to mind. He has had some just absolutely incredible seasons. That's why, you know, last year or the year before, in my opinion, he overtook. Clayton Kirshaw as the best in the sport. There have been some guys in the past. Jake Arieta, the second half he had several years ago with the Cubs, kind of went through the same type thing.

You know, I think when, let's see, when Randy Johnson came over to the Astros, that second half and just went on an incredible run. I had like a 1-1-ERA through the whole second half. But, yeah, I don't think you can put the title Hall of Famer on Garrett Cole, but he is throwing as well as just about anybody we've seen in a long time. I mean, he's throwing that well. Now, you're right, he's got a long way to go to get the volume of work. But as far as the quality last two years, there's no doubt that's there.

Yeah, that's amazing. So give me an intangible on both sides. give me a storyline that we're maybe not prepared for that we might have to. And I think you did it with a great job on the national side talking about how they got speedy guys at the top. It's more of a prototypical baseball game as compared to a bunch of home run hitting. Is there anything intangible on the Astro side that you wouldn't mind seeing in this next handful of games? I would like to see the quality of the bat get better. And that's strange to say about one of the best offensive teams, really historic offensive team in the regular season.

And, you know, this team has not performed well offensively. I mean, you look at the batting average through the league championship series. It was 171 as a team. And that's the second lowest in baseball history for any team that has won the league championship series. So what does that say? That says their pitching was outstanding, but they're better than that. This offense, you know, I felt like it was paralysis by announcement information. I don't know if they were.

I don't know what the real. issue was, but, you know, this team needs to have a little higher quality at bat because they're going to face a starting rotation, a pitching staff on the other side that really can go toe to toe with your own. And I don't think they've really seen that against any other team this year. Yeah. Well, leave it at that. Your analysis is always top shelf, my friend. I really appreciate you spending some time with me today and enjoyed this series. Wish you had some more role on TV, but maybe another time and another place, my friend. Thanks for the visits. Anytime, Matt. Go Astros. You got to thank you very much. Mike Stanton from AT&T Sports

Not doing a great job of handling some analysis for us here on Sports Talk 790. Craig Ackerman here. When I'm not calling Rockets basketball, I'm following at SportsRV on Twitter. You're listening to the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Goes out two-day first pitch and Gurrey aligns it down the left field line and deep. And that ball is gone. A three run, home run. Astros jump out to a three-nothing league. Still still defending a bullet over the wall and left-bill. A charge into the crowd.

Mike Gregorius is second for one on to first out of time. Altumabe scores and it's four to two Astros. Gregman is first RBI in the ALCS. Chryser C-rings all around town. Nobody's high-fiving. They're not listening to this. They're pulling over on the side of going, This is a good jam for this song.

They're high-fiving after their drug deals. They're not high-fiving from listening to this. I don't think of you give us, Kenny Loggins, but you've got Michael McDonald's. He's a bad. Better. Sing it, gentlemen, night. My stone watch. What I was to say right now is, you're welcome.

There are people downloading this song right now on their phones. Yeah, they are. If you love that, you'll call right now and say, Matt, I love it. I love the highlights. I love the music. I love the vibe. It was great. Y'all just a bunch of fans.

fuddy dutty. I'm a fuddy-uddy. 713. 212.790. 7-1-3. Hall of notes. Oh, boy. What a hollow notes could be? What could be doing? I don't know. I just think natural progression there. Can't do enough. What do you mean progression? One great hit after another? Is we descend deeper into the abyss of the worst decade in music history. The 70s rocked. Well, that was 80s, wouldn't it? No, 79. Oh, well, close enough. You're welcome.

The 70s. I'm rounding up. Just keep on giving. Frank's enrichment on the Matt Thomas show. Hi, Frank. Hey, man, you got me? Can you hear me? Yes. So here's a hypothetical for you, Matt, and I really enjoy your show.

I'm kind of a snob when it comes to sports talk. I don't know how you deal with some of these knuckleheads at call. I'd hang up on half of them. But here's my hypothetical. By the eighth pitch the other night, LaMayhew, I looked at my buddy that I was at the game with, and I said, guys going to get a hit here. And sure enough, two pitches later, he hits it over the fence.

Now, here's the hypothetical. What if Astrofan leans over and interferes with that? Now, I know Joe West wasn't there, but let's just say that happens. And, oh, my God, they called him out for fan interference. Think about that. Why? Well, New York would have gone ballistic if they had called. I mean, Astrofan is never supposed to interfere with the ball, right?

It was going to hit the brick wall. But in that instance, huh? It hit the brick wall, didn't it? No. No, George jumped up for it. Oh, did it? George's. I'm sorry.

It just barely cleared his glove by about three or four inches. So if Astrofan had gone ahead and interfered with that ball, they could have easily called them like just like last year. No, no, no, no. They're not going to penalize a New York hitter. I don't think that's how it works. For a Houston interference. Yeah, but what?

Does it matter who it is? What? If it's a Yankee jersey? Frank, thank you. Frank, why are we talking about this right now? I mean, brutally honest, why are we talking about this right now? Because I could just see where, man, what a cluster it would have been had that happen. Now, I'm super glad that it wasn't because I'm going to the World Series tonight.

Yeah. But I can envision where, oh, my God, what would have happened if, you know, Steve Ball. Hartman-esque, you know, just a little bit of what if. Now, you know, okay, we don't have to play that game, but it certainly would have been interesting had they gone out there and had that happened. And they called him out, oh, my gosh, that would have just been, can you imagine the tabloids in New York and how they would have just...

Nope, I can't imagine it because I don't want to imagine it. Thank you for the phone call, Frank. I don't want to imagine it. I'm on to the nationals. I'm out of the World Series. I don't I'm not thinking of hypotheticals involved in the New York fans I don't know why I thought he was talking about Altuve

he mentioned he started talking about Altuvei I know he was talking about the home run Oh Hill and I was confused Okay yeah don't don't it's done I mean there is a There's going to be a rule on that They're not going to say Good job Houston fan

We're going to punish the Yankees Because you interfered Trust me They're never going to say Well you know what This home field advantage is for a reason Thank you, Frank. 228 on Sports Talk 790.

Final segment of calls, Lord willing. You know that? We can just play more Kenny Loggins. I mean, honestly. No thanks. It was such a great segment. If I'm not the number one show in the marketplace, forget about men. That's the segment that puts me in the Marconi category.

Okay. She's gone. It's clearly the whole note song we should use. No, but no, no, it doesn't make sense. It has to be baseball related. You're making my dreams come true? No You make my

Astros are making your dreams come true Matt The Astros See that's a good Gordy parody idea That he just quits doing parodies now What happened? Are we gonna get one tomorrow? No, he'd have had him parody in like weeks The Astros are making my dreams come true

I'll do be Who Who? Here you go Matt What's the matter with us? Why don't you just do it? I feel like I should Because I can't trust Gordy anymore

I'm very busy really talking. I've got LSU on my mind. You don't have time to talk about the Houston teams. Okay, Gordy. Okay. Hey, it's Jeff Blum. Blum fact number 14. I was on the White Sox in 2005. Yeah, sorry about that sweet, H-Town.

But we're all good right now, right? World Series champion. Back to your lunchtime champion, Matt Thomas. All right, getting a lot of text, from my buddies. Music is awesome. The jam is good. Thank you for everybody for sending me those notes. Again, not every 70 song is going to hit. But you mess with Kenny Long as you mess with SportsMT. We don't have, we don't need that around these parts. I don't care what you all have to say. Because let me tell you something. When we get the 30,000 Twitter followers at SportsMT and we go on a trip?

When's that happening? Well, we just crossed 24. Oh, nice. We're almost a 24-2. We've had a nice run during the postseason. Let's slow down here shortly. At SportsMT. Now, if the Rock has go to the NBA finals, so maybe we get the 30 fast. But we got to, can we get the 30 by like sometime next year so we can go like next October for football?

Like I said, I'm going to charter a jet. I don't know if it's going to work. Maybe too much money, but I'm going to kick the tires on it. Yeah, come on it. I'm not, I'll go, I'll go spirit. And you're not flying spirit to Vegas.

Why not? I've done it before. I don't want you to not come back permanently scarred. Well, I said I wouldn't do ever do it again, actually, after last time. Lack of leg room and, overall delays and it was just it was a horrible experience true story and I'm sure spirit's a wonderful they're not um so the game if the Astros had beaten the rays in three I was worried about

Gordy Connor myself getting back here and the tickets we had were you know big change fees and everything so it didn't make sense to keep it so I thought about buying three one-way tickets back from Tampa to Houston on spirit so they don't fly Tampa to Houston on spirit they fly Orlando to Houston on Spirit. Okay. So I thought, well, I'll go see

what the airfare is. And it was like $89 Orlando to Houston. I'm like, damn, this is cheap. We buy three tickets. One Uber is probably 50,

60 bucks to Orlando. How far away is Tampa from Orlando? It's about an hour 15 minutes. Really? Yeah. It's not as bad as you think it would be. Because Orlando is,

the airport's on this side of Tampa, so it's close. I thought, okay, so I'm putting the numbers ago. I'm like, this is not bad. So I go start buying these tickets on Spirit. Check bag costs.

Yes. Carry on. bag costs. You want to go to the bathroom this. A bathroom doesn't cost. You want a napkin if you blow your nose. If you want a bottle of water, it will cost you. I put it them all together. It's about the same. It was about the same. If you're going somewhere for a weekend and not packing a bunch of clothes. My thought is, spirit, frontier, whatever it is, fly those to places that you can carry

a bag or you don't need a bag at all. Like you can just stuff everything in your shirt. Yeah, if you're going to Dallas for the weekend or something, not a bad option. Yeah, like you're going to see the Spurs and the Ruffer. Rockets play. Okay. That's an easy one. Anything else, it's not that cost effective. That's today's SportsMT travel tip.

Brought to you by the Twitter account at SportsMT where you can join us in Vegas with just 5,000. 2021. We'll make it. It makes me sad. It makes you sad. Because I actually do, the easy thing to do it be something viral and then I'd probably get fired. Why not?

What do you mean? What are you going to do that's going to get you fired? Oh, there's a lot of things. People's Twitter accounts rise with crazy. things that happen. You know that. Yeah. You should put out a story that you know that the Astros are not going to be, put something that you know is probably going to happen.

Just put like sources tell me, Ashtros will not be resigning Garrett Cole. Oh my God. And then I'll get ratioed. You'll get a thousand retweets. Next thing I know, I'll be like, you know, Zagreiki sucks and he shouldn't be on the playoff roster. Don't do that. Just talk about sources, Matt.

But I don't want to be wrong, like delete your account ratio. And then get this huge follower account. Bob Nightingale gets stuff wrong all the time. He gets a bunch of followers. Wow, he does get stuff wrong. That's how they hear know there. J.P. Morosi, he's screwing up all the time. They get a bunch of followers out of it.

Dump in the Kenny Loggins will help, too. Well, don't do that. If I get Kenny Loggins to follow me, it probably would help. Michael and West Houston. Hi, Michael. Hi, what's up, guys? Hi. Hi, I was just calling.

I like your show. I really enjoy it and hearing it in the car. And I had a question. Okay. So, uh, tonight. With I'm sorry, I'm like With Al-Cube.

Do you think he's going to get a hit early in the game and set the tone? Sure. The Astros can win a game without Jose El-Tube getting a hit early to set a tone. How am I supposed to know that if he's going to get a hit or not? Who's my pick-to-click? I got him getting two-hit, so I'm saying yes.

Oh, okay, Michael, there's your answer. Michael, listen, Ross says he will set a tone early. Yes. All right. Michael, anything else? All right. All right, brother. Have a good day.

Appreciate you listening. Good talk. Let's go to all. Here's our buddy, Larry and Stafford. Larry, how the boys are on Kirby today? Oh, you know, they're doing well, M.T. Except for that old disaster they did up in India. But we'll get to them in a second.

M.T. Are you trying to drive me away from listening to your show? What now? Frank that called in with the hypothetical about it. Oh. I mean, let me explain to you something, M.T. I can't understand why anybody in the city of Houston gives a damn about what the Yankees are thinking of doing

or their tabloids are doing right now, man. They are sitting at home wondering how the hell how too they are they again. And so we don't need to worry about New York. The most beautiful thing about New York is the fact that I don't live there. That's the most beautiful thing about New York. And my squad is in that World Series, and we need to, to focus on that because tonight somebody about to see cold

bloody go out there and do his thing man. So don't call in here talking about if Astro fans had to interfere with the ball, that Yankee fans get out, that they would have had an uproaring Indiana or New York. I don't care. I want to talk about them stroll and how tonight is going to be another

fun night around this city. Because if you really seriously sit back and think about this, the Astros got to play a several game series with Justin Burlanderlander and Taylor Cole being able to pitch four of those games. And if you don't like those odds, I don't know what the hell you're probably with. Now, let me talk about them boys real quick.

I don't give a damn if they give up every draft pick in this draft to give me to a Super Bowl. If they got to go and get some cornerback because when we're fine indie, with Tate's on and all the other boys getting their ass run up and down the field by the Mike the Beck Buren and stuff dude named Pascal, who I used to do computer work with back in the 80s, I don't give a damn. And every grab pick you can to get somebody out there because I can tell you,

we know we're going to see them coach again on Thursday night. And I'll be damned if I want to see T.Y. Hill running up against Jonathan Joseph's ass looking like he just going to do us like he's been doing it. F.T. Bill O'Brien is somebody that's just going to continue to be a complexion issue for me. One week I'll like him. And you know I'll spend more weeks not liking it there.

What he needs to figure out is how to keep my quarterback back up right. Bit tight as Howard ass back out there so we can get our line back to the way they was doing and go ahead and win this AMC South because the records matter. M.C. We're taking them on whack-ass calls. And you know I'm happy for James and what's Brook to get going in our hallway. Speaking of that, Larry, I know if you heard this earlier today on the show, but it's worthy repeating.

Yankee fans not rooting for the Astros here in the World Series. What is your name, ma'am? Donna. Where are you from Donna? Brooklyn. Wonderful. Donna from Brooklyn. Would you like to wish the Astros good luck in the World Series?

Absolutely not. And if you want to say that, I do. I want to say Al Tuvei, that was a nice shot, but next time we're going to f*** through it your head. Would you like to congratulate the Houston Astros on going to the World Series? F*** the Astros. The Houston Astros. New York Yankees all day.

I'm a New Yorker. I'm a Yankee. I want to tell that little little Uttuvae to come by my construction site, we'll throw them a beating. You know you think of Houston Astros? Look right in their tail. Oh, man. Houston Astros.

You want to congratulate the Astros on going the World Series? Hell no. The Astros. A-S-S-T-R-O-S. And fuck out too many little tattoo-looking bastard. I hate them. Go Yankees. Anything you'd like to say to the Astros?

They fuck them. They suck. You a Yankees fan? Yeah, baby. Anything you'd like to say the Houston Astros? Go. So, is that good? Sorry not a part of the World Series.

Yankees again. That's a shame. It is a shame. McCullors. Hey, it's Lance McCullors. Back to Matt Thomas. Turnball swinging a missed strike three. On Sports Talk 790.

Your home for Houston Astros baseball. Fine. I see what's trying to do. What you're talking about? They're playing with the boys. You like some kidney logins, but not this kidney logins. That's right. That's right. Altuve, Springer, Carrea,

Verlander. They're playing with the boys. Dend fit. Aggie Doug on 79080. What do you got today? Matt. What you got? It's game day.

Yes, sir. Are you already? Maybe. Dude, I will tell you one thing, you just done got me fired up with all the Yankee fans saying F the Astros. That's good. You know what that means? What? That means that they're scared of us now.

Oh, yeah, they should be. Do you remember in 2017, everyone was like, oh, it's so great, such a great. story for the Astros to go to the World Series after Hurricane Harvey almost flooded their entire city. And, you know, everybody's like giving us a pat on the head. Oh, good job, guys. Now we're here for real. Now it's our time.

Now we have the best lineup. We have the best record. We have the best pitching staff. And there ain't a team that's planning at this point. We just went through the hardest team that we're going to have to see. And honestly, right now, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to say it's a sweet. Oh, wow.

AD. Next thing you're going to tell me is the Aggies are going to play in the SEC championship game. Oh, too soon. Too soon. Sorry about that. Thank you, AD, I got a roll. In Jimbo, we trust. Ross, Brad's waiting to talk to us for two hours and eight minutes.

Is he there? I don't know. Brad in Miami. Hi, Brad. Hey, what's up? I don't know. Just talking about. Baseball.

Say it. Nothing big. Hey, hey, do you know, I know I go to spring training games? I don't know. Was the owner crane behind it?

That they went in halves on the stadium because, you know, on the right-hand side, it's the Nationals. On the left-hand side, it's the Astros. I just think, what a small coincidence of...

Oh, Boll, bole-de-bum. Oh, you're a little like that. I don't like that. Yeah, come the Astros. I'm a little. I love Brad.

You guys know that, right? Do you? But he was worried about Havsies with the nationals and the Astros in their same facility? You just thought it was interesting. I think people like that angle that they played in the same facility. Brad? Thanks for bringing that up.

Brad? Oh, no. Brad! I guess we lost him. Brad, come on now. We were going back to you, Brad. You didn't know that. He thought you were very rude.

There he is. Brad, we went back to you, Brad. I never moved music somebody and go back to them. You brought analytical information for that. We thank you. Well, I mean, that's something only people that go to spring training games would see. I just thought that was interesting that of all the teams that got together, those two financially probably went in halves on the stadium,

and it's a beautiful stadium. And I would endorse any Astros fan that ever comes out to Florida to come catch a game. out here. It's beautiful. But anyway, that's not the whole reason I called, Matt. But I really, I really do have to go. I do have to go. Can we save your... Were you in Miami last week? No, I know. I was here. No, I'll be in Miami in 10 days. November 3rd. Yes, sir. The ticket's going to be a lot higher? I don't know. I mean, I don't pay for tickets. I don't buy tickets in road cities. I don't know. I can't take it. How's Westbrook doing? He seems a little off. I don't know.

He's doing just fine. I imagine. He's just fine. Brad, I really don't have to roll. I know the People are looking for their rocket ticket updates. Thank you, Brad, for the call. Five minutes left to go on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest growing sports game show. We simply called it Believe it or not. And here's how it works.

You'll call 71321-2-750. 7-1-3-2-19. Today's edition of Believe it or Not is brought to you by Houston Woodhouse Dayspouse. Print out your gift card for the gift of relaxation. Houston, woodhouse spas.com. Category today, all things about the Washington Nationals Part 2. We did this a few weeks ago, but since they're playing the World Series, it was only appropriate that we do it again.

I'll read your statement about the Washington National. Statements completely utterly accurate. You'll say this. Believe it. If it's erroneous full of bonnet up, you will say this. Not to believe it or not, sign all things about the Nationals Part 2. Win your prize. Ross, what's the prize?

Matt, I got a pair of tickets to see the University of Houston. Cougars take on SMU 630 p.m. Thursday, October 24th at Td.ECU Stadium. Come early. Wear red and be loud, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Andre Ware, winning the Heisman trophy. Fans can park in the lots at Midd-May Park and ride the rail to TDECU. All for free on Thursday night. U of H versus SMU game is Heroes Night, celebrating the military and first responders. UHcougars.com slash tickets to get tickets today. Let's play. John on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not? John, the Washington National's owner, Mark Lerner, earned his wealth as the chairman of the Consumer Products Company Honeywell International.

Believe it or not? Believe it? No, sorry. That's very believable. Thanks, Matt. Callion 790. You ready to play, believe it or not? Yeah.

The Washington Nationals' official colors are Independence Red, Union Blue, and White. Believe it or not? I believe it. No, you shouldn't. Bye. Think of it. Scarlet Navy and wait. A little minutious, but nevertheless still inaccurate.

Bill. Oh, Bill. I'm tired of losing, baby. It's over. I'm tired of losing. The Washington Nationals Ring of Honor includes players from the franchise's histories, including the Montreal Expos, the Washington Senators, and the Homestead Grays. Believe it or not.

Ralph, you're good, but believe it. Believe it. All right. It's all over with, baby. Come on. Bring it. Come on, Artube. All told. Fernando Rodney has played for 11 major league teams and was an all-star with three of them.

Believe it or not. Oh, that's a tough one. We only had one pair of those, by the way. That's like Kansas. Kicked in the gut. Kansas, man. Chris on 790. Chris, your favorite part of the radio show today?

Oh, the scripted Q&A, Dr. Whitson commercial. Fair enough. Makes me want to turn it down. So bad. Anthony Rendon is called baseball too long and boring and said he prefers watching the history channel on TV rather than baseball. Believe it or not? Not. No, he's a rice guy.

They love history. Jimmy on 790. You ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Stephen Strasbourg won a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as part of the USA men's baseball team. Believe it or not. Not. Yeah, actually won bronze.

statement number two for the win. Dave Martinez, his son Jagger plays soccer for the University of Tampa. Believe it or not. Why not? Believe it. Believe it is right. You ever name your son Jagger? I love people that know the University of Tampa

soccer team as well as others do. Bill on 790. Ready to play, believe it or not? Yeah. Patrick Corbin is known to be quite frugal. When he received his signing bonus from the Diamondbacks, he bought a used car to save money. believe it or not

not yeah he did think it was an 87 gil metro it was a Buick Skylark okay fair enough hey TGS insurance before I get you out of here

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