The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 10-29-19

Episode Date: October 29, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 10/29/19The Astros and Justin Verlander look to close out the World Series tonight (0:00)AJ Hinch on Game 6 : "Controlling Excitement Will Be Key" (19:37)Aaron Reiss Joins Matt Thomas To Discuss Texans' Injury Concerns (57:45)

Much larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. H-Town. What's happening in lunch-timers? Good afternoon to you and welcome to a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas show

on Sports Talk 790. Will it be tonight? We play this song. because it's apropos and B Ross my co-host my friend loves him some Phil Collins I took a lot of strength not to loudly boo this lustily boo this opening that's okay Matt goes your go through your Phil Collins everybody's getting in the mood now for what depression for a nap because tonight is an all-nighter We here at Sports Talk 790 are going to go all night long.

See, I'd rather have some line on Richie. Oh, you know what? That's fair. That's balanced. Sing it, Phil. The Astros. This is getting the people going. Fair enough.

I'll accept this. So here's the plan, Sports Talk 790 listeners. For that, we love you. If the Astros win tonight. And we want to use the word win, right, Ross? We just don't want to say if. But there is still, you know, this is much of the Nationals chance of winning as the Astros are.

Steven Strassberg is pretty good. And the Nationals are undefeated at Minutemate Park in the World Series. And Justin Verlunner hasn't won a World Series game. That's another name or there. So if slash win, the Astros win the World Series, you are going to keep it on this radio station, as Lana Rucci would say, Ross, all night long. The plan is for us to go into full marathon coverage.

I have been given the 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. slot. Wow. It's like you're back in the beginning of your broadcasting career. That's right. And the strangest thing of it all will be, ladies and gentlemen, I will be in Washington, D.C. doing said post, post, post, 11th, 12, 13th, 14th, 10th, show, whatever we're going to go. It's really the pre-Salisbury show. Yeah, I'm like the snack. I'm like the appetizer. Yeah, you're like our new Clay Travis. Well, in that time zone,

it's really five to seven, so it's not that bad, Matt. That's true, but here's the thing is that normally I do the show in my room when I'm on the road. I'm going to have to go to another location because could you imagine the people staying in this amazing 19-star hotel hearing me scream Astros World Series champions. That'd be great. That would have a lot of strife. In the event of a win, Matthew, I will be at the Academy. Kirby location. FYI, starting at 11 o'clock.

What, handing out shirts or what? Yeah, getting the crowd going, firing people up, firing people up, telling them to listen to the Matt Thomas show, 12 to 3 at Sports Talk 790. So, and how long are you supposed to be there until? Probably until 1 a.m. So you and I are going to be tired AF tomorrow, but that'll be okay because the Astros will be world champions. I'm usually up to 1 a.m. anyways. That's true. All right.

Hey, I hope you guys are in a good mood today. Ladies, too. I always like, we say the guys. We're going to take care of the ladies as well. This is the Matt Thomas show. I'm coming to you from Hobby Airport. Ross is back in the studio along with Nick. I'm leaving in a couple of hours with the Rockets, and we're going to Washington, D.C.

Ross, this might be the strangest night as a sports fan that I would ever experience. Now, two years ago, when the Rockets won the championship, I was in New York doing a Rockets' Knicks game at the exact same time, which was very peculiar because, again, I've been a fan of the Astros all my life, first chance to see the World Series, and I'm a thousand miles away doing basketball, which I love. You know how much I love calling the Rockets and working with them.

This will be even weirder because I'm going to be in the city where every bar that we go to tonight is going to be, I'm assuming Washington National crazy, right? So that's it. I will be in D.C. rooting for the Astros to beat the Nationals. where I probably will get punched and thrown out, and maybe thrown through a plate glass window.

I've always imagined that sports bars in Washington, D.C. have like C-SPAN on, and then people are, like, getting their rocks off watching a bunch of floor Senate debates. Well, here's what I'll do. I will take some photos and maybe a couple of videos here and there, and I will put them on my Twitter calendar today to kind of give you the vibe. Because maybe when I go on this bar, we stay in a very nice part of town, obviously. Naturally. Naturally.

And there's a bunch of restaurants and bars in this little area. So it could be like one channel's got Fox News on. One has MSNBC on. One's got C-SPAN. One has old episodes of the West Wing on. I mean, it might not be Washington National crazy here in D.C. later on the day. You never know.

The people of Washington, D.C. are going to hate Matthew L. Thomas. This is why, depending on how the cell reception is down there, I think you should do the show in the morning from the Washington, D.C. subway. There'll be some interesting characters on at that time. I don't think I want, do you want me to get hurt? No, I'm thinking about the good of the show. And the man is now firing up a spoon. All right.

Thanks, Matt, for that play-by-play. All right. So we will be your home. If it's a loss tonight, which hopefully it isn't the case, but it is a possibility. We'll do a regular 10th inning show. If they win, we are going nonstop all the way. Now, what is the, I don't have the schedule. in front of me. I'm assuming that Michael

Connor and Chris Gordy will go for a while. Yeah, I can tell you the schedule, Matthew. It'll be Michael Connor and Chris Gordy till 2 a.m. I may join depending on what happens at Academy and all that type of stuff. I'll join them at some point. They'll be at home plate bar and grill until last call. And then from 2 to 4, you will

get the A team after dark 2 to 4 and then it'll be Matt Thomas 4 to 6. And then Sean Salsbury, that gross knee of his from 6 o'clock until 10. Sean, if you're listening, but I'm very happy

that your recuperation process is moving along beautifully. I just don't want to see your gross knee anymore on Twitter, but I love you. You know that. Yeah, that's the way

you don't want to wake up to do you. I haven't seen it, luckily, so I'm going to be able to avoid it up with it. It's gross. It's black, it's blue, it's puffy, it's disgusting. Don't go look

at Sean's Twitter account. Listen to his show. Just don't look at his Twitter account. It's a hot mess. All right, 713, 2,1, 2,000, 5, 790. Ross, we have AJ Hinch coming up in 20 minutes from now.

How cool is it that we get to talk to the manager the day of game six of the World Series? He just loves you, Matt. He wants to talk to you, and apparently things have been going well with him talking to you this postseason, so hopefully that continues today. Love is a relative term. He may just feel obligated, but point being, I don't care how he feels about me. It's about him having a chance to talk to hear from him, and we'll very much look forward to doing that in 20 minutes from now.

Texans update at 130 with our friend Aaron Reese from the Athletic. Between now and then, it is you, it is me, it is Ross, it is Nick, and it's 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-79. If you want to visit via Twitter, you can do so at SportsMT, at SportsRV, and at Pro Nick Lowe. Y'all call in today. Tell us who is going to win the game, who's the pick-to-click. How do you envision this bad boy? and is the thought of every road team winning a game in this series

give you like, hey, it's about time for it to flip and turn, or are you the thought of, you know what, this bad boy might have to go seven games? That's what we're talking about here on the show today. 713-212-5-790. And again, at SportsMT, at Sports RV, and it's a pro-nick low. If you were at the Rockets game last night, what did you think about their victory over the Thunder?

Ross, you did the post-game show last night. I thoroughly enjoyed. I will say this. For a team that is not shooting good, not meh, but not shooting well at all, they have two wins in their first three home games. Going to the free throw line a lot, and I continue to become a bigger and bigger Russell Westbrook fan every time I see him to take the floor.

My goodness, I mean, seeing him and the energy that he has getting up and down the court is just, it's a marvel to watch, because even when he's not focused, and you can watch on TV and you can get a sense of it, but in person, the way that he just goes 100 miles, an hour every second that he is on the floor. It's amazing to watch. And yeah, that's very true as far as it feels like the team's a little bit out of sync. It feels like they're feeling each other out.

It feels like obviously James Harden hasn't been shooting well, especially from three so far. And they're still two and one. And the one loss was a very close loss to one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference that won 60 games last year. So there is definitely reason for optimism on my part. All right. 713-1-2-5-790. Texans are in London. We'll get to that with Aaron. AJ Hinch, bottom of the hour. Rockets win the last night, and they head off for their first road trip starting tomorrow in, of all strange places, Washington, D.C.

713, 212, 5, 790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Back to the Matt Thomas Show. On Sports Talk 790. For the corner, and let's go! Home of your Astros. So on the way here from the plane, I was talking to him, I was like, Jose, we need to get our swagger back.

Like we're getting hits and we don't even get hyped up. I mean, we're scoring runs and it's just, it feels like a regular game. This is the worst series. This is the last series of the season. We need to play like it. We need to give everything we got and then, you know, after the series over, we're going to be exhausted. But yeah, we got three months to rest and then show up against spring training. So, you know, let's get our swagger back.

Let's play hard. Let's play with passion. Let's play like we want it. And I feel like this last three game, we really play like we won this championship. Do you have your swagging like us? Swagie like us. Swagin'Legas. Do you have your swag, Houston, Texas?

Ross, you get your swag at 1219? Not really. Kind of tired, groggy. I'll get it by game time, though. Yeah, isn't the rule tonight everybody has to take a nap before the first pitch? Because we're going all night long? Because we're going all night long. Because here's the thing.

Even if you can't go all night long because you have to go to work the next day, The game's going to go four hours. We got to rest up for that at least. That's true. All right. Astros on deck will start. Actually, the guys are going to be at home plate bar and girl at 3 o'clock. And then Michael Connor jumps in at 5 with them for on deck at 5.

First pitch is just past 7 o'clock. And then 10th inning show goes, however long it needs to go. Carlos Correa. Do you buy into that? Is that lip service to him, or do you think there was the daubber down a little bit? I mean, I just, if I'm supposed to believe AJ, and he says his guys are so even keeled all throughout the series, regardless of ups and downs, then in theory, you wouldn't have your dober down, right? What's a dauber, by the way? I don't know.

It's a word I've heard about emotions for years. Okay. Oh, yeah, it's for bingo, isn't it? What does that have to do? Anyways. I mean, if Carlos Correa says it, I guess I'm apt to believe him, but it didn't seem to. me like the guys were pressing or having, I mean, some of them, right? Yorraudan Alvarez looked like maybe he was pressing a little bit at the plate and stuff like that. Alex Bregman wasn't exactly

himself, but I mean, those things can happen. And maybe it's just, it's kind of one of those things, Matt, with whatever you believe gets you going. Like some players need calm before a game or some players need to get hype or some these players need to do different things. So if Carlos Correa thinks that there needs to be more celebrating and swagger to get him going, then that's what that's what it is. That's true. It's kind of a personal thing. Yeah. I think actually if you were to take a vote of the room,

most guys, I think more than likely were calm and just even killed. And look, the pressure is huge. It's October. It's a World Series. But if you start showing cracks and you start getting, you know, throwing Gatorade bottles and throwing bats and yelling at people, that would kind of show that the pressure has gotten too big for the moment. And I don't think the guys did that.

I think a couple of hits can save everything. But, you know, to your point, Rossi, everybody is. own person. I'm just curious, what kind of people are y'all? It's game seven. Would you want the clubhouse playing music? Would you want it to be, you know, like a, treat like a normal July 7th day? My guess is if I was in that spot, I would want everything to be as normal as possible.

It probably won't be that way because there's more media there. There's more people in the clubhouse. There's thousands of people in the stadium hours before first pitch, which is absolutely. normal. But if I was pitching, like if I was Justin Verlender, I would go through the exact same routine. If I was Jose Al-Tuve, if I was Alex Bregman, I would try to keep as normal as possible because

if you start getting out of your creature comforts, that's when I think the moment becomes too big. But I give A.J. a lot of credit. We'll talk to him about this at the bottom of the hour. It just feels like he's tried to keep things as much status as possible under the circumstances. 713-212-5-790.

A.J. will join us in about eight minutes. It's right here on Sports Talk 790. Let's go to Mark in Braeswood on 790. Mark, how are you? Hey, Matt, doing all right. Just inquiring, what's your pre-flight meal over there at Hobby Airport? Well, I'm not in the main terminal, so there will be no like Poppicitos or Wendy's. I'm in a private air terminal, so it's just whatever they serve.

And thank you for that insight. Ross, we got that answer for the folks back home. Everybody's curious? I thought you were going to go with Auntie Ann's Pressel. Have we ever done a fantasy 5 of airport food? We did airport items, and you were mad that I drafted neck pillow and won.

Yeah, because that's stupid. I mean, we were running, I drafted me like in the fifth round. We were out of items. I mean, there's only so many things you can buy in an airport. Let me just give you real quick what the Matt Thomas, if I was at the hobby in the main terminal. Appetizer, Appian, Annie Ann's. Hustler Magazine.

No, they don't do that. that anymore. They don't have Hustler magazine at the Hudson News? I don't think you can get, I don't think you can get Playboys anymore. That's unfortunate. Remember when we were kids, we used to go to stop and go and check out the porn? Yes,

I do. Don't say that you didn't. Don't say that you didn't. Or perhaps the Diamond Shamrock, if you will. And I will. All right, so Annie Ann's for an appetizer. Lunch, I will go with the stuffed burrito, you know, the Chipotle, whatever they call that. That's in the particular

hotel airport right and then for dessert you go to the nestley toll house cookie place that right there is the ghost of the goat of airport meals what are you going with um i just go with something easy i get some candy like some sour patch kids and some water or maybe perhaps a coffee if if i'm a little tired or how about this you do what mrs thomas does and buys nine magazines for one hour for 14 minute flight She could just read the, what do you call that? What's the magazine with all the stupid products in it? Oh, I know what you're talking about you. How about this?

Come more quick rulings than back on the phones. One, have you ever received a... Skymall. Skymow. But that's free. That's in the air. It's in the plane. This one is like going to like Hudson News and buying a bunch of magazines.

All right, how about this? Have you ever gotten... You know how I feel about the massages that have the little automatic machine that shakes you around? Yeah, you love them. I want one from my house. Have you ever gotten a massage by a live human being in an airport? No.

Would you like to? I think I've gotten one massage in my life, and it wasn't an airport as a massage place. Well, I've got to get you over to Woodhouse. That's wrong. I'll go. They've got the bourbon stuff that's going there, right? How about me and you? I'll talk to Woodhouse folks this week.

How about me and you doing a bunch of post-show shows from Woodhouse in a robe? All right. While I'm getting my calves rub down, I'm with it. All right. Let's go to Kyle and Pearland at 12, 25 on 790. Hi, Kyle. Hey, Matt, how's it going, buddy? Good. How are you, sir?

All right, right. You have a good flight. Listen, I was watching the rockets last night because the Astroburn on. A little disappointed on their defense. Do you think we can hire Brissilla back as a defensive coach? Who? No, didn't we have Jeff Brissilla or however you say the name? Bessdilic. Jeff Bistelik.

Not Joel Presbilla, the former center for the Portland Trailblazers. was not a good defensive players. No. He's actually an assistant coach now with the New Orleans Pelicans. Well, we now do something with our defense. I saw too many wide open shots, too many people staying around watching layups. I know the offense looks good, but if we don't do, we don't show up that defense, we're in trouble. That would be an understatement. I think the Rockets are quite aware of the amount of points of going on so far. Although, Rossi, that third quarter last night was amazing. Whatever got under the rocket skin and halftime worked out They outscored the Thunder by 21 points and it held OKC to 18.

So it is physically possible for the Houston Rockets to play some pretty decent defense. Yeah, that third quarter was wild. They were getting to the basket like crazy. I think they made like five and nine threes in the quarter or something like that. It was a good time. And then the fourth quarter happened. Well, we're working on it. Let's go to Carl and Dickinson at 1226 before we saw how to AJ.

Hello, Carl. How you doing that? I love your show. And I'm glad you were positive after those first two losses. because I went on the air that night and told everybody to calm down in Houston. But anyway, Sparky's little tail is pointing towards a minute-made, and his ears are up and he's fighting with a cat. So I think we're going to take the World Series guarantee, and that's all I'm going to say.

All right. You know the rule, Ross, when Carl's dog, Sparky has his ears pinned up. I don't know the rule. No, I don't. He's frisky and wants an Astros victory in the worst way. Mark is saying what? Okay. This is 790 baseball direct.

Direct from the ballpark. To your radio. Driven by Texas Direct Auto, powered by Vroom. 1232 on the Matt Thomas show here from Hobby Airport. We're in a couple of hours. I'll be going up with the Rockets to our nation's capital. And A.J. Hancher just want to tell you that I'm going to DC A. to C.A. to call a Rockets basketball game, but also to serve as a therapist for thousands

of thousands of national fans tonight. Are you okay with that assignment? Well, you would leave at the most, you know, important games of the year. So, you know, the fact, you're going to D.C. is sort of an odd, I guess an odd thing, but hang in there with your tough travel schedule. I know. Hey, I'm going to let you. I told the audience earlier, I'm doing two hours of overnight radio tonight when you guys win the World Series.

So just when you get in your car and after you celebrate, again, when it happens, know that you can put on 790 and hear your bestie doing some radio. First of all, congratulations. It's an amazing season. Tell me the swagger of the team when you landed in D.C. And then when you took off again, I've kind of been telling the audience it hasn't changed much. You've said the same thing. But you've noticed anything different from your squad besides obviously the thrill of victory.

Yeah, I don't think there was a big difference in sort of our vibe or swagger. It was our reality that we lost the first two games. we needed to kind of stand up for ourselves and for our season and win a game and you win the first game when we were there and then you kind of build off that and you win three in a row and, you know, again, it's all for not unless you finish it out and win a fourth game at the seven game series. Hopefully that we can end in six tonight. But our, you know, our vibe and our kind of mood are obviously grows as the wind come. There's an excitement and an energy, but we weren't we weren't flat here. We weren't overwhelmed.

we weren't overly emotional. We just kind of showed up for work. But I know that today is going to be an excitable day for our team because everybody knows at the end of this game, 27 outs, you know, you have the lead and you get a win. It's a completely different feeling at the end of the next win. So it'll be controlling some excitement today will be key. You know, Alex isn't afraid to show his emotions one way or the other

and the stern looks and disappointment because he was hitting some balls hard. They were just reaching them. wrong spots. What did you sense from him after the Grand Slam? Was it, you know what, I should have done this five or six more times, or was there a little bit of the way of the world off of his shoulders after he hit it? Yeah, I just think, you know, he's part of our team that wants to contribute, and I know he's taking it personal. They've walked Brantley a couple times to get to him, and then they've gotten away with it, and then maybe they won't get away with it if he does it tonight. But I think it's a good, you know, it's a good feeling to know that no one person on

our team has to do everything. I mean, he carries the weight of the world and the weight of expectations on his shoulders all the time. It's part of what drives them. It's something I'll never take away from him. I think he should set his standards higher than anybody has for him, and that's pretty lofty. But, you know, there was an exhale for him to be able to, to deliver the final blow in a game to separate us with the Grand Slam. And he's always a part of something. I mean, he's played pretty good defense outside of the one game when he had a couple of mishandled balls. But I think the realities is we're all in for each other and we have a chance to do something really special.

And one thing I love about this team is they don't really care who gets the big hit or who gets the big punch out or what roles they have or where they hit in the order. We don't have a lot of that drama. And that makes me very proud. I'm going to assume that your conversations on game days with J.B. and Gary. and some of your veteran pitchers are minimal. What went through your mind? What did you want to tell Jose before he went out there and pitched an absolute masterpiece for you?

You know, I try to be very consistent no matter who it is. And, you know, I have a routine with all of them. They're all different. You know, some guys are days before. Some guys are the day of and even during their outings. But I don't really change. I mean, I know everybody wants the dramatic, you know, talk to him before a big outing.

And I try to act the same way with her, and Keating when he started here before. I mean, obviously, I wanted him to attack the strike zone. We wanted him to use his pitches in a certain way. We went over that and, you know, try our best. If we act normal and we act like at the June start or July start, then maybe he can settle in because it's what he's used to. And the same goes for today.

I mean, I met with JV yesterday. We started talking a little bit of baseball, a little bit of the first five games, the different areas of the strike zone that we've gone, some places that we've avoided, the positives and negatives of that. But, you know, I'm not going to change the way I talk to these guys or the way I look at these guys just because of the ramifications of the game.

I think that's the model of consistency is what they need at the time where everyone around them is going to make it a bigger deal. AJ Hanks with us here on the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Skip, why hasn't a home team won a game in this series? Well, because we haven't had a chance to play back at home again. I hope. I hope that's just kind of a weird, weird part. But I don't know.

I think two really good teams that, I mean, we outplayed them in Washington, and we didn't care what venue were in, and they came in and beat two of our big boys and got off to a good start in the series. So I don't, you know, there's no guaranteeing victory no matter where you're playing. And this is two of the best teams in baseball, and we've got to, you know, got to play better at home. But, you know, mostly we fell apart in game two. And, you know, they delivered.

a tough entry into the series by scoring 5 off of Garrett. But they beat us, which is why we didn't win the first two games. Skip, what is the managerial protocol on starting pitching?

And more importantly, when will you think it's appropriate you'll find out if Max Scherzer can go if indeed there is a game seven, hopefully not? Well, they'll have to announce it today or they'll be asked

and they'll probably push it off to tomorrow and honestly, I don't really care what they say today or tomorrow. we're pretty locked in on game six. So, you know, after the game, you know, I'm expecting to know a little bit more if they win, if they don't. I don't care. I'll be celebrating. So I think what I would expect is sometime early tomorrow afternoon.

If we have a game, then they would let us know. And by the way, they've handled, they handled that perfectly fine by me. I was joking about Bregman being the one telling me, but that wasn't a shot at the Natch. That was, you know, it came about the same time. Joe Espada and Chip Hill, the two bench coaches communicated that they had a lineup issue. They don't have to disclose to us that it was a pitching issue. I don't blame them. But they handled the game five communication perfectly fine.

All right. I want to talk about a couple of the guys that I think you've really, and again, I'm only going off of the pictures I see on Fox. Will Harris, every time you've called on him. I mean, this is a guy last year to, frankly, I wouldn't say it was public enemy number one, but he didn't have the season that he probably wanted nor the Jew. What a bounce back for him and then seeing Joe Smith with the storyline of he's been in all these games and all these years for able to come in and help you out. Tell us a little bit about both of them and some of the things you've been able to discuss and kind of celebrate with these two guys giving them most of their opportunities.

No, I'm glad you asked me because I love these two guys. You know, on the field, they've been very good for us, obviously. But in the clubhouse off the field, two guys that I expect to stay in touch with. for the remainder of our careers and well into retirement. These are two really, really awesome individuals. And Will, in particular, has been kind of my go-to guy for five years. I've used them in the most critical times. You know, I don't have the stat, but I bet he's inherited more runners than any pitcher that I've ever pitched in my managerial career.

I trust them. I know he's going to have those strikes. He's got a wipeout pitch in his curr ball. He's got some resiliency. He's got some toughness. we've seen all of that, you know, in the most critical parts of our wins in the series. So I love the fact that he's getting to do some interviews. He's getting some exposure.

He's been an All-Star before. And ironically, I think he struck out Diaz at the All-Star game in San Diego when he got to get a little bit of attention. But relievers in general only get talked about when they blow a lead for the most part. It's kind of they do their job when they get out and something's wrong with them, what they don't. And the fact that I had to tell Will last year in the ALCS that he wasn't on the playoff roster was very, very tough for me because I've trusted him and utilized him the most. Joe Smith, you know, coming back from injury and just being active again at his age in his mid-30s, he's coming up in Achilles, he's got the funky delivery, and just getting him back active again,

we had a lot of questions on how, you know, was the velocity going to come down? How was his mobility going to be? he does have kind of a funky delivery that needs his health in order for him to be effective. And he's just taking the opportunity and run with it. He got active and then he got a little bit better and he got a little bit better and a little bit stronger. And as the season trended at the end, I started using him a little bit more high leverage and back of the back of the bullpen type stuff. And that's, you know, he's done that before. He's been a primary reliever for a really long time.

But I was so proud of him to get him into the world. series game for the first time in his career and then watching him not just get to play but actually get to get to contribute to win. It's been really fun. I had a nice moment with him in the dugout the other day where we were joking about some pitch calling and his demeanor is so easy to root for and I can't say high enough praise for these two. One more, Braga-Otosius point.

You got about 100 of them here, but when Yuleiguriel first played first base, as it was learning the position, I think we were deemed down in spring training. You're like, it's going to be a work in progress. seems to figure out the angles and needs to figure out how the ball comes off the bat, position himself. He saved this team's bacon on multiple occasions with his work at first base. Is that one of those proud pop-a-moment seeing his development there? Oh, for sure, because he's worked a ton at getting comfortable at first base.

And most people think, you know, it's funny, I hear them talk about, you know, when Jordan got here, where are we going to play and play him at first base? Or when, you know, we've had a number of guys come up, and everybody always seems to default the first base. Josh Reddick, grab a first baseman, go to first base. Michael Brantley should play first baseman. By the way, Uly's our first baseman, and he's really, really good. And he's getting the recognition now as a Gold Glove finalist that's been on display this entire postseason.

And what's interesting about Yuli is he's had three different infield coaches in our time together. He had Rich Dauer as his first infield coach and then Alex Cora, who went on to manage and then Joe Espada. And each of them, I've watched them grab a little something different from those. guys in a routine that's made them really, really good at first base around the bag, but more importantly, we can play them aggressively, you know, in all sorts of areas. And those plays he made against Turner back-to-back nights in Washington were game changers. And we don't think of that, whether it's a defensive play by George Springer and center, cutting a ball off and keeping a guy to a single or Yuley finishing innings by fielding those

like awkward ground ball to the right side. Those plays matter as much as the Springer Homer and the Correa Homer and some of the more easily recognizable big plays. Last question for you. If I was doing an over-under on the amount of seconds that you will speak to the team as a group before they take the field, would it be 60 seconds or less or more? Less.

Less. Yeah, no, I do my more individually. I'll wander the outfit like I always do. I will hit the food room. I'll be in the training room a little bit. But our team is, our team routine and my routine with the players, getting them ready to play is rarely has to do with like a team meeting or a team address. But I'd like to address them after a win, the next win. I would like that.

I think this is our 30th, probably last visit of the year, at least on the weekly Tuesday visits. Thank you so much for your being so forthcoming and open with us and our audience. Congratulations of what's already been accomplished in the very best. luck tonight. Thanks, skip very much for that. I appreciate it. One more win. One more win. We'll be happy. You got it. Thank you, AJ. AJ Hinch with us here on the Matt Thomas show.

Back to Matt Thomas. Drives this date to left center. This is Sports Talk 790. Home of Astros baseball. Matt Thomas with you from Hobby Airport. We've got Ross and Nick back in our Houston studios. You guys can jump in right now. 713, 212. 5 is 790.

We'll get a little text. It's conversation in about 4. 40 minutes. Ross, any observations from AJ? It sounds like I was talking him in the middle of July, right? Basically. Yeah, you expect him to keep on an even kill. I think that's his role. That's what he does. He doesn't panic. And whether things are going well or whether things are going poorly, AJ Hinch is just going to be A.J. Hinch. And that's what I think the players love about him. That's what I love about him. It's almost too much to ask for one person to do it. I don't know if I could do it. I don't know if the average person could do it. because you've got 162 games, you've got these postseason games, you're down to O in a series,

you're up to nothing against Tampa and drop, you lose a game badly at home to the end. I mean, there are so many ways you could just go in a room and lock yourself in that room and never come out. And AJ, at least publicly, never shows that side, does he? No, I don't think so, at least not publicly. I'm sure there's moments where he's maybe pressing or has doubts or whatever, but hourly and then what he's supposed to do and what a good leader does. is he doesn't panic when the chips are down and he doesn't get too high when things are going well. So, I mean, that's just exactly what he does.

It's what a good leader does. It's what the Ashroves need him to do. And he fits that role perfectly. Let's go to Renee and Bel Air at 1252 on the Matt Thomas show. Renee, good afternoon. Hey, hey, guys. How's going? First of all, so I'm an average fan.

I've been watching the series, and I finally would be able to put this enough together to watch a game. And I had a choice. is either tonight's game or maybe tomorrow then I'm all in. So for the average fan who can't maybe go to every game or at least travel to them, kind of get some feedback on what are you all

also all in? And what do you think? If you had a choice, you go to one of two games, if you only buy one ticket, would you do like I did and buy tonight's tickets because they're going to win. I'll get off and listen. Yeah, thank you. I don't want to think about game seven. You have to, in the back of your mind,

because Washington is good. Washington is also to another world series. But no, I don't think anybody is looking forward to potential game seven. Because I think at that, I mean, I don't know, Ross, you're the vaguer, you're the odds, you know, who has the momentum. Minus 175, I believe, is the number tonight. What if it got to a game seven, what do you think a number would be, how Vegas would say? I'm what, I would guess the Astro would be like with, you're telling me it's going to be Scherzer and Grinky?

Yeah, and then all hands on deck. everywhere else. If it's Scherzer versus Grinky, gosh. I mean, Astros would be probably slight favorites, like minus 1.35 or something like that. Yeah, but I think, you know, like tonight, and I'm assuming at Minutemate Park at 705, bits before the first pitch, it's going to be a, the frenzy is going to be amazing. And it would certainly be that way in game seven. But there is going to be a lot more fingernail biting at 705 on Wednesday night than there ever would be tonight.

I'm going to be way more nervous for a game seven than I would for this game for sure. I think if it gets to a game 7, national fans are feeling 25 times more positive than they would say right now at this moment. I think so. Let's go to Mark on the north side at 1255 on the Matt Thomas show. Mark, how are you, sir? Hey, guys. Hey, it was nice meeting you Friday at Twin Peaks. It has been a long time since I've seen you.

Yes. You know, when I introduced myself to Ross, he said, oh, no. I thought I had done something wrong or something. Oh, not a chance. I just remember what he said to me. He said, oh, no. I was just messing with you, Mark. Don't worry about it.

Okay. I was a little worried there, Ross. Don't be worried, Mark. By the way, I had to get my wife permission. She said, as long as the radio shows there, you're okay. So an Astros-related question or comment, geez, I forgot what I was going to say. Okay.

For people that aren't going to be at the game or aren't going to be at watch parties. Don't you, whether we win it in six or seven, don't you have a feeling there'll be some people calling in sick tomorrow? I'll let you guys go. Bye-bye. All right. I don't really know what the sick quotient is.

You know how you have like the Super Bowl flu or the blue flu after just a general mind going on? What kind of flu like symptoms? Flu-like, you know. Or, you know, you could do it. You could do it the Astro way. you're having discomfort. That's true. I'm having liver discomfort.

Like, for instance, if you're going to vomit a bunch tonight, you've got throat and stomach discomfort. That's true. I would then go to Jeff Lunoz's Twitter account and have him write the letter, the note to your boss. And I think the boss would absolutely excuse it, wouldn't you think? Yeah, you could have knee discomfort as well

because you're just kneeling towards the toilet the entire night. Well, Sean Salisbury has knee discomfort right now because he's got a brand new knee. That's true. He would actually get a free pass. See? It should be like Sylvester Turner should just declare it a city holiday, is what you're saying. Do you know who also should declare it a city holiday?

It would be, of course, Sheila Jackson Lee. I mean, she carries some serious weight in our community. She thinks the Southern boys need some time off. You know what? Yeah, you've got to have a day off when you're celebrating an out two-week grand slam, right? Right, but she's a U.S. representative. She doesn't have anything to do it locally, right? Yeah, but she represents Houston.

It's part of Houston. Oh, geez. Southern boys. My favorite underrated one is World Series champions. Do we have that one, too? I wish I had that one. I feel like we should go back and find that speech, and we could probably get 35 sound bites out of that, not just two.

That's the best of bros. Altui. My favorite Altuvi is, it's good. I'm pretty good. Doesn't he talk about ice cream being pretty good? That's from the H-EB spot. That's what I was thinking about. I can probably find that.

Okay. World serious champion. Oh, there it is. They're not playing. They're the world serious champion. They're the world serious champion. World serious champion. Southern boys.

And they also went to the highest lengths. To the highest length. Well, stop. Stop this right now. Oh, God. What is the matter with you, Ross? World serious. World serious.

All right. Let's get back on the baseball. I have nothing about Sheila Jackson. You know what? Shame on me for bringing her up. 713-212-5-7-90. We've got all of our lines over if you want to jump in this hour. 7-13-212-5-7-90.

Is the Matt Thomas Show. Here we go with hour number two of the Matt Thomas Show. the airport. Ross is back in our studios. Where tonight, right here on these airwaves that we call Sports Talk 790, it'll be game number six of the World Series. It'll be Steven Strasberg against Justin Berlander. Last time these two teams hooked up with this matchup, it did not go the Astros way. Ross, I'm terrible about predicting how things are going to turn out, like score-wise, how it happens. Have you envisioned in your mind what's going down the night?

because I'll give you mine and knowing that mine is about accurate 20% of the time. I think this is a comfortable Astros win with a lot of run support early in the game, like a three or a two in the first couple endings of the game. That's just me just totally guessing and perhaps me being more optimistic than anything else. Crooked numbers, as the kids say, you're saying. The kids do say it. That's right. That's exactly what they say.

Hmm. My feeling is very low scoring. maybe something like 4 to 2 Astros. Yours actually makes more sense. Now, if you notice, you and I have asked each other about the predictions of the game, we've never had the opposing team win one. You ever have never? No, I don't think I remember saying 12 to 3 nationals, even though that happened.

I don't think I said Razor winning 5'3. I don't think I ever said the games are winning 62. I think every time I've been out, I feel like I'm an employer of the team. I'm like I'm doing Astros Radio. Well, they've been favored in every game. Like, if you should look at the numbers, that's just the way it is, because they're a pretty damn good. baseball team, Matthew, breaking news.

Yeah. Because you remember last year's game seven was anti-climactic, although President Trump thought it was one of the greatest games ever played. Two years ago, yes. Two years ago, excuse me. So I've been wrong about everything about these games being close, or I'm just going to go on a limb and say that

the mojo the asterisk picked up in D.C. They have brought them in at Made Park. It's an opportunity for the first time for a team. You know, the last time a home team in Houston won a championship was the 1995 Air Rockets at the summit. Game 7 of the World Series was one of the

greatest baseball games anybody has ever seen. That always still gets me. I could be 87 years old eating food out of a blender, having a night nurse give me baths, and I will still love that sound bite. I feel the same way about this one. If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd

be dating her. I don't feel that way about that one. That one will make me laugh until my dying day. That one makes me feel 100% creepy. If Ivanka or my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her. You shouldn't treat people that way. Sorry, Donnie.

There is no other radio show in the marketplace, at least sports-wise, it gives you Donald Trump and Sheila Jackson Lee in 20 minutes. Welcome to the world of the media. Yeah, except this one. This show does it right here. And don't forget, Bill O'Brien, I'm sure a Bill O'Brien soundbite will be just around the corner any minute now. I feel like I'm testing Nick Lowe just as he's running to the soundbites

as fast as humanly possible. That's ridiculous. 713-212. 5-790. 7-13-21-2-5-7-90. Bob is in spring on the Matt television show. Bob, good afternoon. Thank you for taking a call.

I just want to get your take on Erkiti here for a minute. Next year will be his rookie year if he makes the team, and I'm assuming he will. This year he hadn't played enough games for this to be his rookie year. Did he win a World Series game

and he's not even a rookie yet? Has that ever happened before? Well, I mean, he's technically a rookie, but you can be a rookie over a couple of seasons. I mean, yeah, I mean, he's not, there's no such thing as sub-roarchy. I mean, there is service time that determines how long he played, and he would be technically a rookie under that situation. So he will carry that rookie banner into year number two. But not having an Encyclopedia World Series history in front of me,

I'm sure there have been a handful of pitchers. I wouldn't say a plentiful, but a handful of pitchers that have not been around in the month of April, May, June, July, that came help their team out the month of September, made a roster, and ultimately did something in the World Series. Okay. I'm a rabid Astro fan. I have been for years, and I watch every game,

and I've noticed something over the past couple of years. When we face slightly above average pitching, we can't hit the ball. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a second, Bob. Let everybody let that sink in a little bit. The statement that Bob in Spring just said, when the Astros face above,

you say slightly above or above average pitching? Above average. Above average pitching, the Astros have a hard time hitting the baseball. Yeah. If I got that in their mind, their crawled right now. Ross, you got them memorized. Slightly above average.

Okay. Or above average pitching means the Astros don't hit. take a look at Verlander's losses. I know a couple of times he lost. He gave up four or five runs, and it was just false. But the other is they'd give up one run, two runs, and we couldn't get them back. Usually when we play our ace, our opponents play their ace. But fortunately, the other teams only have one ace,

and most of the other teams have mediocre aces. So we can win a three or four game series. Justin Verlinder won over 20 years. When they put their big ace up against our big ace, we got a good pitcher, but we have difficulty to run. All right. Let me just chew on that declarative statement you just had. Thank you very much for the phone call.

Ross, I remember in 2017. Yes. Chris Sale had no fun facing the Astros. Neither did Kirshah or Udarvish. I don't think he rolled his Chapman had a blast watching Jose El Tuva hit a home run to an American League game six. Well, Jose El Tuva hit a blast. Yeah.

Do you hear that Houston, Texas? Bob and Spring. who watches, as he said, almost every single game says, when the Astros face above average pitching, they don't hit the ball very well. Well, they don't hit the ball as well as they would against poor pitching. I mean, that's just common sense. I'm going to assume the Detroit Tigers, Bob,

who lost 115 games, Ross Giver Take. Nish. They also don't hit the ball well against above average pitching. And thus, thrive when facing below average pitching. Even a team as porous as the 40 and 115 Detroit Tigers. Like, there won't away from winning the World Series. Can we, I mean, am I crazy?

Well, you know, I don't think they do that well against this pitching. I got a lot of question marks about the way AJ Hinch does things. I don't like the way that they're hitting with runners in scoring position. I think they need to lay them down more months. Like, can we just not bring all this up? They're one way and away from winning the World Series. Like, do we have to just complain about everything they do? Yeah, I will under the category of calls I thought I would take today.

My man, Bob, Mr. 162 Watcher, that would not have been the one I would have thought would have come this way. They scored 15 in the last two games. Now, of course, it was against Sanchez and Corbyn. But Annabal Sanchez is a good pitcher. He's above average. I don't forget about Ross either. Oh, yeah. Ross. Sanchez was game three.

They only didn't score that much against him. But Ross, if Hinch had been doing his job, they would have swept this series already. Stop. Why are we in game six? Yeah, AJ Hitch. Why do our caller sound like cartoon characters? What is he?

Yeah, what are you doing, Nick? It's like Droopy's gay cousin or something. I don't know. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Oh, boy. Folks, here's the plan. Take a break, Matt. If you don't call the show, Nick, it's more airtime. So really, it's upon you to call 713, 212, 790.

You have to be something. And maybe something positive you could say about the Astros. Because there's only one would have went away from the World Series. I mean, call me crazy. 713, 212579. The Matt Thomas Show. Back to it. On Sports Talk 790.

Home of the Stroes. Ross, I got a question for you. How do you feel about an online simulation? What do you mean? Computer simulations of games and yes. It depends on the source, but some of them can be credible. Some of them are just statistical noise not to be given any credence. Dynasty League Baseball has an online simulator of the World Series.

Two guys from USA Today will preplay to each one of the games so far in the World Series. They had the Nationals beating the Astors tonight. by a score of 1 to nothing, sending it to a game 7. Okay. How accurate were they in games 1 through 5? I'm glad you asked. Game 1, Astros 4, National 0. It was 5 to 4 loss, right?

Correct. Game 2, Astros 10, Nationals 2. They lost 12 to 3. Game 3 in our nation's capital, Nationals 4, Astros 1. They won four to one. So so far the computer simulator is 0 for three. Game four, Astros five, Nationals three. So they're one for four.

And then they had game five going extra innings, which it was furthest of the truth. Nationals four, Astros three. So let me say this. If I was going to play a computer simulator game and the previous five stories I did about this simulator, four of the five days were wrong, Why would I want to do a story about game six when the other five stories were largely full of crap?

Are they just playing MLB the show or what? That I don't. Let me see what it says here. It says... They put this on King Griffey Jr.'s of baseball from Super Nintendo, or what are they doing here? Well, it says, it says, using the Dynasty League Baseball Online Simulation. USA Today's Sports Steve Garner and DLB designer Mike Shillinsky will pre- play each game to provide some insight into the key matchups and strategy fans can expect.

No, that's quite the opposite of what you're doing. You're giving us what you think's going to happen to the computer does, and we're going with the direct opposite because that's what your series has done so far. That's one of the things that Steve Garner from USA Today says, like, you know what, maybe we'll pass on this idea. Because so far it hasn't worked. Usually you would put that story up if the simulator was right, correct? Yeah, I think that like the Madden simulations of Super Bowls have been pretty accurate over the years.

but yeah, they're fumbling this one, it looks like. All right, let's go to some phones. We'll start with Ed in the Heights on 790-1-21. Ed, good afternoon. Gentlemen, how are you? Good. So just as a footnote, in 17, you guys had a contest to give a motivational speech to win a barbecue pit, and I won it. So there is some history here.

I've been listening to this show for many years, and Matt, you're personally responsible. You and Charlie P. when he was on, we igniting my passion for the game. So that being said, I think at this point in the show, especially given the tenor of the call from, is it Braddon Spring? What was the guy's name? It doesn't matter. No, it was Bob. Yeah, no, exactly. But I think what you should do is open the polls for an instepole and give 15 listeners a chance to tell this guy to suck it and just put him in his place.

And just, you know, who wants to tell Bradden Spring to suck it? And just pop him in, have him say it and be done. What he said, that's where he played the happy. the Billy Madison quote, right? What you said is the most idiotic, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Make you out of mercy on your soul. That's where you need to fit in that soundbite. Not that I'm producing the show for my desk because you don't need my help.

But I thought I would just add that for you. Hey, I'm going to cut out because I don't have much more to add, except to say you guys are doing a great job. And I appreciate all your work, and I look forward to hearing the aftergame show. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I want to remind all of you that if the Astros win tonight. And I think it's okay to say if, right?

Or should I say win, Ross? I don't want to be cocky. It's still still an F, right? Yes. They're favored. They're probably going to win. And it doesn't mean I don't want them to win. It doesn't mean that I want to be, that I'm trying to be overconfident.

And it's not like Justin Verlander has been untouchable. It's 0 and 5 in the World Series, actually. But while we're letting stats get in the way of this conversation. If the Astros win tonight, we will go into Marathon 10th inning mode, which will include me from Washington, D.C., from 4 to 6th.4 to 6th.4. 6 a.m. You know, Rossi, this unit that I'm using to broadcast from, I could actually go on the streets of Washington, D.C. at 4 o'clock in the morning and talk to people if I wanted to. It'll be 5 that time, so I think you should, actually. Matt on the street. Could you imagine? Hey, I'm with the Sports Talk 790 in Houston, the home of the world champion Astros. Your thoughts about last night's game.

It'd be like going, you know, it's like Jimmy Kimmel needs to come up to D.C. and talk about it. about how much they love the Astros, because you know, as you guys know, they love the Astros in New York City. Let's go to Stephen and Katie on 790. Hi, Stephen. Hey, guys. How are you doing? Good. Good, man. Well, hey, you actually just brought up the unfortunate stat that I was going to talk about a little bit with JV being 0 and 5. And, of course, you know, we're contributing here to the positives here. We're not entertaining any negatives, right? So tonight's the night he gets that win.

And I guess my question for y'all, and by the way, it's going to be a dominant performance. I can feel it, Phil Collins' style. My question is, is this the cherry on top? He's a Hall of Famer. We know that. It's happening. But if he brings this Second World Series here, he gets his first win. Is there really any hole in his resume or is it game over at that point?

Oh, I think he's in the Hall of Fame right now. I don't know if he'd be a first ballot. We're certainly getting into semantics at that point. But if you are a game six winner and you are 36 years old and you are a Cy Young winner and you win this. Here's the thing, Stephen. If he wins tonight, they'll never care about the previous five losses. It'll be the one that gets him to victory tonight. That's how we'll remember Justin Verlander as a World Series pitcher.

Oh, absolutely, and I think we'll struggle to remember him as a Detroit Tigers player. I think, I think, like, you know, and obviously coming from a Houston perspective here, but I think, I think, you know, sports history will, you know, obviously see the staff, the Stanford one thing. But, you know, the contribution there becomes so massively centered to one team. So anyway, I could expound upon how much J.B. is a badass forever. But I'll get off the line, let you guys hopefully hear some more positive comments. only about this. You know, I don't necessarily

positive. I just don't need to bring out the negative Nelly when it doesn't need to be. I mean, it was one of those and look, Bob is listening and Bob, we love you. You know this. We're teaching because we care. But it was a very rossy, a very

generic, frankly, ill-informed take that the Astros can't hit good pitching. I mean, most teams have difficult times hitting Super Elite. I mean, no one thought, I would hope, that facing Max Scherzer and or Stephen Strasbourg two times in a series would be a piece of cake.

These are guys that are making $30 plus million for a reason. Same thing with the national fans. I don't think national fans were getting pumped up to facing Justin Verlender and Garrett Cole. They actually got to them a little bit, and they ought to be happy for that. But to say that the Astros or the Nationals or any elite team at this late junction of the season is having a hard time with good pitching is just preposterous right now.

It is. Yeah, I mean, the Astros aren't going to go out and tattoo Max Scher's or in Stephen Trosburgh for like six runs. It's just generally not going to happen because that's not what goes on. And on the World Series thing, by the way, Matt, this Verlander 0 and 5 thing, to me, I'm looking at the games that he's thrown in the World Series. There's been really two really bad ones. And then the worst one in his Astros career, and it was the last one that he had, the six innings and four earned runs. Like, that's not a horrible start. His first two starts in the World Series in 17. He threw six innings.

and gave up three, and then six innings and gave up two. So as an Astro, he's been pretty solid in the World Series. If you go at least two of his three starts. Yeah, I'm not, I don't think he's been disastrous at any point during this post is for the Astros. Garrett Coles has been better. I mean, he was bad in his first World Series starts when he would start when he was 23 in 2006. Not fair. That was his worst one.

Not fair. All right. Those of you be online for the Astros, Hank Tite, we'll get to you. We got some Texans issues to address, and we'll do that next. Aaron Reese from the athletic with us, and then we'll finish up with Astro calls. Ross is with you till 3. I'm here until 2. 7-1-3-212.

5 is 790. Hey, this is Joe Green. 4-3! Yes! Listen to Sports Talk 790 at home on your smart speaker. Just ask. Alexa, play Sports Talk 790 on I-Heart Radio. Red Rowdies, Bulls on parade, and Astros fanatics.

Sports Talk 790, your radio home for your home teams. We will certainly get the Texans there due when the Astros World Series run is over, which is sadly in a couple days. Man, it's coming down to the last two days of the baseball season. But right now, I do want to get a little bit in on the Texans. We'll do that with our friend Aaron Reese from the athletic, who is traveling with the team to London for Sunday's game. The team Aaron is leaving on Thursday.

From what I understand that is atypical of most NFL teams. Bill O'Brien wants to keep the guys in a good routine. Is this the right decision in your mind? Yeah, you know, so far the trend this year, I believe, has been that the team that's arrived late has always lost. I actually am not sure the last round of games which team came later and all that. But yeah, I mean, the detectives, they said that they put a lot of research in before this. terms of how much effect it really has, and just in the whole history of these lending games,

and they found it doesn't make a ton of difference between when you arrive, and that, I know, Brian's mind sticking in the routine and disrupting guys' routine is what's most important. So I guess we'll see soon enough. The Jags have more practice with this, and I think traditionally they've gone up a little bit earlier. But, you know, who knows, I think everything with this lending game is kind of a wash in terms of what happens. But you could blame anything on the guys being tired, or it could just be that, you know, a flaky game or whatnot. It's kind of hard to determine how much that really makes a difference. And the reality is they could play the game in Houston, Jacksonville, in Las Vegas.

This Texans defense has beat up. How bad is it? Is it going to get any better for this week? And what are the next two to three weeks look like, especially after the buy? Yeah, you know, I think, I don't know how much better it's going to get this week. Maybe you get Jonathan Joseph back to this week. O'Brien sounded less optimistic about getting Tashon Gibson the safety back. And Bradley Roeby, the team does not expect back into off of the buy.

I think after the buy, things would maybe be a little bit better. They'd have Roby, that have Joseph, that presumably or hopefully have Gibson, and he'd self just to read back there. But, you know, Lonnie Johnson now is a concussion protocol. Those things can go on forever. Greg Manson's been in concussion protocols, basically for most of the season now at this point, the offensive lineman. And, you know, Gary and Connolly, he made kind of the play at the end of the game.

That was pretty big and helping him get the win. But he didn't look great for a lot of the day. I think they're going to have some problems, and they'll especially have some problems when you don't know if JJ Wilde up there messing up quarterback's worlds. And they don't really have a ton of other pass rushing presence. And obviously, these things are they build off one another. So I think they're in some trouble on defense. Let me ask you this. Is it too simplistic to say, all right, Whitney Marcells in a contract year?

Whitney's thought about having a little more room to maneuver and do what he does best now that would JD gone. Is this the most important stretch not only for Whitney as a. a Houston Texan, but determining his future and what he can get paid depending on how disruptive he can be over the next handful of weeks. Yeah, for sure. You know, it's actually funny. I was talking about this with some of the other reporters yesterday. Like, was this, I mean, obviously, for the sake of the Texans, like the Watt getting hurt is obviously bad for the Texans. But, like, was the Watt injury, is that a good thing or a bad thing for Merciless?

Like on one hand, you know, he has to, like he said, he carries now all this load and the attention to be on him. I think, you know, he was playing so well to be in the air in part because he didn't have a lot of attention on him, right? Jay J.J. Weil was getting double-teamed at a rate second only to Jadavian Clowney. And, you know, it's just mapped, right? It's just numbers. Like, that that created opportunities for Mercilus and other guys, and the rest of the defensive front. And now those double things are shifting over to Merciless, then he's going to have a harder time to get into sacks. And, you know, I wonder if it actually hurts his overall, you know, his raw stat line and how that affects his, how much you can earn.

Maybe he comes in in a more affordable price than he sticks to the Texans after this year. Visiting with Aaron Reese from the Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter for all Texans coverage, and Aaron will be going with the team to London this weekend, Aaron J. Reese, R-E-I-S-S. Aaron, what got Kiki Kootie into the Texans or Bill O'Brien Doghouse? Yeah, I know they said on the broadcast,

it was, from what was really to me was, you know, like a lack of attention, right, or in meetings or something of that sort of thing is what they said on the broadcast. You know, Brian was pretty blunt about it, though, that he, you know, basically it was just a decision. He wasn't heard or anything like that. And if you kind of just look at a, you look at the production of Kuti. It was mostly happening inside the numbers. They had some trouble getting stuff to him outside the numbers, and you wonder if that's some result of maybe him not running the routes the way they want on the, and certain parts of the field or whatnot.

You know, I'm now thinking of that. There was that one throw that Watson missed, and towards the end zone, I guess it was against, not the Raiders, but, oh, my gosh, how much basing on this? They played before the Raiders. Kansas City? Yeah. Oh, Indianapolis.

Yeah, I'm sorry, Indianapolis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was the one where it looked like Watson and him weren't on the same page on the outside in the end zone in the fourth quarter. And that made me, you know, wonder if maybe, you know, he's not running the right route there. There's miscommunication. So, you know, I think he's clearly looking.

looks like the more talented fly receiver than the Adjory Carter in terms of physical intangibles and stuff. But Carter, you know, he's stuck around here. He's still now for a while after kind of a journeyman start to his career. Coaching staff here clearly likes the way it works and the way he carries himself. So he didn't get a shot and I don't think he did anything to lose that opportunity in the game against the writers. The running game has just not been nearly as fluid the last few weeks? Is that a byproduct of Titus Howard being gone and the different guys are moving around?

Where has the five and six-yard burst of Carlos Hyde been the last couple of weeks? Yeah, you know, I think you're right in that regard. When it came to the Raiders, they were much better against the run than they were against the past of the defense. So I think maybe it wasn't quite as much of a point of emphasis

for the Texans in that regard. What we thought, when we see it as best, It seems like those RPO's are really working for the factions, and that creates these wide open holes for Carlos Hyde to burst through. Because I think if he doesn't have that, then he's not really the sort of guy who has the raw speed to just get, to gain a bunch of yards. He tends to ball forward.

He gets them enough, but I think he really needs some of those larger holes. Yeah, I imagine Titus Howard didn't help. And also for a lot of that game, they were playing without Lammy Tustle too yesterday, or on Sunday. So, you know, they're banged up along the offensive of line, too, and that's a problem for them as well. I think Tubman should be back this week. Howard still a little ways away.

I'll be interested to see what they do at right tackle. They had Chris Clark there in place of Rod Johnson. Rod Johnson had suffered a stinger against Indianapolis. Maybe Rod comes back and starts because Kristen looked that great at right tackle. That's a really kind of an understanding. We're visiting again, Aaron Reese from the out of money. So Garner-Michu put up huge numbers. Granted, it was against the Suckey Jets.

You mentioned there a familiarity with Lowe. London. I don't want to say a trap game, but I can go about 100 different directions in this contest. What does your gut tell you about Sunday in London? No, I completely agree with you. I think that the thing is kind of every single one of these games with the Texans now with the way the defense is, the way the defense looks. It's kind of up to Will Deshaun Watson be able to outscore the other offense? And leaves to my mind, I don't know how much you can really rely on the defense to win you a game the rest of the year. You know, and I guess if you're going

Gardner-Menture against Deshaun Watson head-to-head, you like Deshaun Watson in that matchup, but I do think this is kind of a fluky game, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Texans lost, and I will actually go ahead and say that I think the Texan will lose. Yeah, and I meant to ask you about the RPO, the Watson-de-Fells combination. I mean, I don't understand it. They've been

doing this for like three straight weeks, and no one's been able to stop it. So is that a is that little adjustments that Bill O'Brien's making? Is it just the fact that Watson is just picking the right play every time? But that has been really a very nice combination for the Texans offensive with the last couple weeks. Yeah, certainly. I think it is a large part of Watson kind of making the right read there.

But there's a lot of things that go into it. Like O'Brien would gladly tell you. But the main things are, of course, that Watson is a threat to run. Hyde, obviously, is running, and then Fells can leak out. and they can also have other guys crossing deeper and deeper downfield. And all that stuff together, I mean, I think at the end of the day, no matter how much well Fells plays this year, he's still going to be like the fifth or sixth guy for opposing defenses

to be worrying about, you know? So life is good for Darren Fells. He just finds a lot of open field in front of him, seemingly every time he catches ball. All right, so you've got the Jacksonville Jaguars winning. I try every week to pick a winner, and I'm wrong every single week, except the last week I did the Texans winning. It's just because I felt like the Raiders can put up a boatload of points but can't stop anybody and that was indeed the case. Aaron, have a great trip.

I don't know if you've been to London before, but I've never been to a football game there. I've been, what are you hearing about how many Texans fans are going? Does Jacksonville have any sort of home field advantage over this or is it kind of a pulpery of NFL fans that'll be there? I really, at least when I've watched these games, it seems more like the latter. It's kind of a mix of people. I don't, Matt, maybe Jacksonville has a little bit of a foothold there, but it doesn't seem like it would be that outrageous. I don't think that the crowd is going to be much of a factor either way. All right, we'll leave it at that.

Safe travel, Mamma, we'll talk again next week. Thank you for the visit as always. Yeah, thanks for having me. You got it, Aaron Reese from The Athletic with us here on The Matt Thomas Show. The Matt Thomas Show continues on Sports Talk 790, where Rockets and Astros play. And real Texans talk. Oh, yeah. Ross, you feel it?

Ross disappeared. So I guess he cannot feel it. You cannot feel it, can't he? Nick, you can as a connoisseur of amazing music. Yeah, sure. I guess you can call that amazing. I was on a really good show. Yeah.

Miami Vice. See, here's the thing. When I'm gone for the last hour, you guys are what anything you want, and you cannot make fun of me because I can't. be here to defend myself. Yeah, there won't be any Phil Collins. Kenny Loggins? No,

zero, Kenny Lockett. Van Halen? There's not going to be any Neil Sedaka or Captain and Teneal. Queen? Queen. Queen, maybe. Yeah, okay. I can get you with that.

Wouldn't Queen be a tomorrow thing? True dat. Well, they have more than one song, Nick. Really? Yeah. They do. We're going to play Fat Bottom Girls, of course. Hey, everybody, raise your hand if you're getting up with me tomorrow morning at 4 a.m.

for the part of the 10th inning Mega Marathon talk show. I know you can't see us, Matt. My hand is not up. All right. Remind folks where you're going to be tonight if indeed the Astros do win. Yes, if the Astros win, I will be at the Academy Sports and Outdoors Upper Kirby location, just off Kirby and 59-ish. Be there about 11 o'clock.

It's going to be having a hang. We're going to have games. I'm going to be handing out gear. I'm going to be working the crowd on the microphone. Apparently, it's going to be a fun time. Everybody, if you have never seen Ross work the microphone. You're not missing anything. 7-1-3-212.

Oh, I'm just kidding. Everybody go check them out. Is that 59 in Kirby right next to Loopies and all that? A true story. The first time I ever worked a microphone for a crowd was at a strip club. I thought I did okay, considering how many tequila I had had. Could you imagine me doing a PA at the strip club? Yeah.

And five foot six, 115 pounds from Lone Star College. It's Trixie. You forgot some of the measurements. That's true. That'll be for the after show. Let's go to Kelly in Jersey Village on 7.90. Hello, Kelly. Oh, you because Nick is awesome.

I'm going to finally talk to you. Yeah, where were you? We were going to hold the whole noon hour for you, and you decided to just take a nap or something. I don't know what's going on with your world. No way. Actually, I had several therapy sessions a day, and I'm on a break. No, wait a time out.

Time out. Are you a therapist, or are you going to see somebody? I'm a therapist. Well, how about, why did you, why did you bury the lead? The city of Houston needs you some therapy right now. So, I've been trying to call you for a whole week, and Nick's been so awesome. So I want to say, thanks, Nick. I try to call after game one when all of Houston just seemed so down and then game two everybody was like

leon after it was all season long and I know they play their best we would go on these winning streaks and then all of a sudden we'd be like what happened to our asses again they're fighters I'm just so impressed and I'm so happy I'm so freaking happy right now and I know today I mean hey it's part of Houston's flooding so I just think today's going to be a great stay for our Astra. Safe on the road, going to the game. Yes, for sure. And the Rockets for the first time this season yesterday, and that was awesome, even though we still have plenty to work on. But I'm not here for analytics, Matt. All right.

Well, Kelly, I got a big question for you. How hard are you going to party tonight if the Astros won the World Series? It's a lot that I've been wearing for the past three games. I smell pretty. But, no, I have to work in the morning, so I'm going to be responsible, but I will be celebrating all the way, that's for sure. I don't know if I can meet you guys at Academy, but I hope you have to have to look at, Rob.

Well, Kelly, let me tell you something. We want you to call us 12 months a year, because you just admitted on my radio show, you're wearing clothes for three straight days and haven't cleaned them up. something that very few women would ever do. You know that, right? Yeah. Clearly.

I'm not either because we have a game where we live in Houston, and we've been watching every game there. It's a gang? Well, it's... Excuse me? Oh. So there's... Are these 12 men?

12 men or 12 women? Women and men. If you drive on green... I know you won't be there, but I'm just saying. Is Green Valley a good street? or is Green Valley, even where Green Valley is? It's near Jersey Village. Oh, okay.

Everybody's safe in Jersey Village then. That's cool. Yeah. Because, you know, we're still taking showers, though. Okay. Kelly, you're priceless, young lady. Have a great time that I, and we want to hear from you later this week, okay? Oh, you're going to hear from you, and we're going to be celebrating.

All right, dear. Now I just hope my boss lets me off for the parade. Oh, I want you to work. Love me. Don't worry. I'll call your boss for you, Kelly, because you know what? You need a day off after not showering for four straight days. Actually, you did shower.

Thank you, Kelly, for the phone call. Ross? Woo! Yes, Matthew. Kelly, that was, she's something else, isn't she, Ross? I don't know. What do you mean? I just said she's something else.

Okay. I was one of the best in the business. Thanks, Bill Romanowski. What? That's a classic cut right there. Bill Romanowski getting the mess. That was from 2012. I think.

All right, I'm getting Twitter. Is Kelly single? Is she hot? I don't know. I don't know what she looks like. Nobody's tweeting you that, Matt. You're lying. Why?

If I touch that? Oh, boy. We don't need Rex Ryan involved either. Is it okay to touch him again? All right. Stop. We don't know if Kelly has a toe fetish or not. No, this is disgusting.

All right. I need to end my portion of the show, so Nick shut up for just a minute. On that note. On that note. Hey, a reminder again that I will be on the air at 4 a.m. from Washington, D.C. if the Astros win tonight. If the Astros win on Wednesday night,

I'll be on the air at 4 a.m. Thursday, but I'll be in Brooklyn. I'll be in New York City. We're flying from D.C. to New York. I'll get home, get to the hotel, get my radio equipment locked in, and I will be on the air. So 4 a.m. each of the next two nights,

if on the night the Astros won the World Series. Hopefully, it's tonight. This is the Matt Thomas show. Well, kind of is the Matt Thomas show here on a sports talk 7. Welcome back, Ross Villarreal with you for the final hour of three. Matt Thomas is traveling with the Houston Rockets. So he's got to hop on a plane and do fancy Matt stuff. Instead, you have me alone, Ross via Real with you for the final hour.

you want to get in. 713. 2.125. 7.97.13. 2.257.90 tweets to at Sports RV. And normally, before a big game in the final hour, we'll play a song to get the people pumped up. And unfortunately, Matt is not here. So there's not going to be any Kenny Loggins. There's not going to be any, uh, any Phil Collins. No Elton John. We're going to go with something a little bit more modern. My dough keep the scales tipping like foe, foes like I'm from the H-O-U-S-T-O And Alvarez listed pretty deep to center field.

Robles is racing back, still going back, looking up, see you later! A two-run, home run for Yordon Alvarez. And the Astros lead it, two to nothing. Alvarez's first home run of the postseason. Yeah, it's been a long time for Alvarez. time he absolutely hammered that ball to left center field just kept carrying on a line that balls hit well left field high and deep that's got a chance gone Carlos Correa with a two-run shot gives the Astros the four to nothing leave let's go how we feeling out there 713

2125790 game number six tonight. And Springer hits it in the air deep to left field and you can kiss it goodbye. A two-run, home run for George Springer and a 7-1 lead for the Astros. Springer goes deep for the second time in this World Series. Bats waking up, especially in the last couple of games. Got the day off yesterday. I don't know where you are, Nick.

Let me just tell you how I feel. I feel like I am so confident that it makes me worried. Right? Because, I mean, that's how I felt coming into the series. I predicted the Astros to win this game in six. I thought it wasn't going to be that big of a problem, but obviously the nationals are top heavy in the rotation. They were the hottest team in baseball coming in

because they had just come off sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals. And then the Astros come out and they just drop those two straight games. And it could not have been more jarring and more of a, I don't want to say a wake-up call, but like a slap in the face to have the Astros lose those two games. And I wasn't thinking that the Astros were going to lose this series per se. But it was definitely, as Matt Thomas would say earlier on, getting the dobbard down for the Astros in the World Series. And then you come back and you win three straight with the three starts. And a lot of people will talk about it.

And I mentioned it as well about the bats waking up in Nationals Park and how they, They were swinging in hitting home runs and Jordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman with the Grand Slam and all that type of stuff. The Astros could have scored two runs in each three of those games, and they would have won each of them. The starting pitching and the bullpen have really turned up the heat on this Nationals lineup, and that's the reason they won these last few games. They've only scored one run in each of these last three games. And I'm hoping that pitching is going to be back. I mean, obviously with Justin Verlernard tonight, going against Steve.

Steven Strasbourg. You have the Astros at minus 175. What's your feeling so far? As I ask you right now in this moment, Nick, what's your feeling about tonight's game? My prediction for the game is Astros are going to take it, let's call it 6-2-3. I think it is going to be close up until the end and then the Astros will break it open late. But I agree with you that this game is the time to strike. You don't really want to come back for a game seven because you're likely to see. Scherzer as long as he, you know, is recovering from his massage. Is his neck okay? Do we have an update on Scherzer's neck? Is everything okay? Have we talked to his pinch and nerve? Can we get them on the

phone lines? Is everything okay with Max Scherzer? I'll have to look into that. I have not heard that he is ready. Yeah. I would be prepared for him to be. That's the way that I feel. I feel like, I mean, I'm very confident, right? You got Justin Verlander on the Hill at home for a chance to win the World Series. It sounds great. But that's happened before where you felt like Justin Verlano was going to get the job done. And he hasn't necessarily done it all the time. I mean, the World Series record, by the way, that's overblown. I went and looked at his game, his box scores from the World Series. He's basically had like one bad World Series start since he was 23 years old. If you want to go and count his first World Series start in 2006 when he was 23 and was just coming

into his own as a good Major League pitcher. That's up to you, but I definitely think this whole thing about him being 0 and 5 in the World Series. It's not that huge of a deal. He had two very good starts in the World Series in 2017. Last timeout, the start wasn't exactly what you're hoping for, but, I mean, he started off week, right of the ship a little bit, and then gave up the run to the home run to Kurt Suzuki, and then got charged with the run that he didn't even give up. So we got charged with four-run runs, but it wasn't a horrible start from Justin

Verlander. I expect him to be good tonight. I don't know if I expect him to go out there and throw eight innings and give up one run and strike out 13 or something like that. But I think we're going to see Justin Verlander be ready tonight. So my confidence level is high, but I'm Nick and I are an agreement on this. It's not a must win tonight, but you'd really, really like to get it done here. Because tomorrow, with possibly Scherzer and then Zach Grinky, who was good in his last start, but he's not a guy who's going to go out and give you seven strong of shutout inning, shutout ball or anything like that. I'd like to get it done tonight.

That's the way I feel. 713, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. 7. 7.1, 3, 1, 2, 5, 790. Your predictions for game 6. Let's go to Benjamin in Galveston here on the Matt Thomas show. What's up, Benjamin? What's going on, man?

You got any bad jokes for us today? Man, you know, the only joke I got is that you wonder, I think Strasbourg is from Vegas, am I run? And I think Harper's from Vegas. I think Chris Barnes from Vegas. But you know what? They're all going to go home unhappy today. And I'm excited.

But I want to ask you, what's that song? Who's that song by that you were playing? That's like, it's a zero, and I can't even remember the whole rest of the song. It's called, I don't even remember what it's called. It's a Houston song. That's actually what I have it labeled as in my system. You like it? It was pretty catchy, right?

Oh, man, it gets me pumped for tonight. I know. Would you rather listen to that? Benjamin, would you rather listen to that game or that song? Or would you rather listen to Phil Collins, say, tonight, tonight, tonight? You know what? I was just thinking, Matt Thomas is the kind of guy you see in the airport. Am I wrong? Well, you see him at every airport because he's fancy man.

He's traveling around town. He's just like, he's that guy in the airport. Anyways, man, but I'm excited for the game. And where are you going to watch it at? It's probably one or they know. I'm probably going to be at the residence of Mipadre. I'm going to be there. There, but once, so I'm actually, I'm actually, I'm glad you bring that up, Benjamin, just a little personal story about me.

And thanks for making the call. Appreciate you getting in. Yeah, I, I want to watch this game with my dad and my mom. I grew up watching baseball, my dad, and sports and all that type of stuff. I was with them when they won in 2017. But unfortunately, I do have the obligation. If the Astros win, I will be at the Academy Sports and Outdoors, Upper Kirby location off of Kirby in 59. So that's, I'm kind of in limbo, right? I don't know if I'm going to be watching the.

the game at home and then I'm going to have to leave. What if it's tied towards the end of the game? I guess I'm just going to have to head to Kirby. And if they lose, I guess I'll just drink my sorrows at the Twin Peaks location over there. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do. But I know that if the Astros win, I will be at Academy, Sports and Outdoors in the Upper Kirby location. All right, time for a quick break.

A couple of you guys on hold here on the Matt Thomas show at 713-1-2-5-790. 7-19. We got the conversation earlier from AJ Hinch. Some of you missed that. And even if you didn't, it was great stuff. So we'll have that coming up at 2.30. We'll have your calls talking World Series game six here on the Matt Thomas show. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790.

Baseball, football, basketball in Houston. Home for your home teams. Matt Thomas Show, clearly without Matt Thomas rolls along here on Sports Talks, 7.90. We got our fill of Phil Collins earlier. We'll play some H-town jams. The Astros prepare for game number six. Justin Verlander versus Stephen Strasbourg. Coverage here on Sports Talk 790, starting with basically everybody, all hands on deck at some point. Adam and Adam going to be out at home play bar and grill. You'll have Michael Connor, Chris Gordy, out there after the game in the event of an Astro. when you'll have Michael Connor and Chris Gordy from Homeplate Bar and Grill from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Things could get pretty dicey out there. I'm interested to see how that turns out. But we did it when the Astros won in 2017, although that was in studio because they were on the road at Dodger Stadium. Then from 2 to 4 a.m. you'll have Adam and Adam coming back on the air. And then from 4 to 6, you'll have Matt Thomas. So full around the clock coverage here on Sports Talk 790 in the event. of an Astros World Series Championship. 713-21-2-5-7-9. If you guys want to get in,

7-13-21-25-7-90. Tweets to At Sports RV. Let's go to Joshua in the Galleria, holding longest here on the Matt Thomas show. Joshua, go ahead. Hey, I just wanted to say, Go Astros. I'm really hoping we tee off on Strasbourg tonight.

And then I had one question, and I'll hang up and listen. Did Scher get injured after his pitching? or did he just happen to go to the same as if Carlos Correa goes to? As far as I know, he woke up with issues. What was he supposed to pitch on Sunday? I think he woke up with issues on Saturday, and he got some treatment and all that type of stuff,

and he was getting everything worked on, and he was hoping he was going to feel better. And then he woke up Sunday, and things were even worse. And he was more locked up, and he had the neck and shoulder stiffness, I think, stiffness, I think it was, and nerve issues. So to my knowledge, he was not in Houston, Texas, getting the same masseuse that Carlos Corre used to have, which we're going to talk about that for probably ever.

I'm thinking that's going to be one of the all-time weird injuries in the history of Houston sports. But no Scherzer. I wonder if he'll be available for Game 7, but I hope that it's not even an issue. I hope that they don't even need that. Hopefully the Astros just get this bad boy done tonight. That's what we want, right? What's what Vegas is thinking? Astros minus 180.

So you've got to lay $180 to win 100 if you want to bet on the Ashroats tonight with JV on the Hill. 713-21-2-5-7-90. Edward in Sugarland here on the Matt Thomas show. What's up, Edward? How are you doing, sir? I'm well. What's you got, Edward? How do you feel about tonight's game?

Just want to do a little prediction for tonight. All right, go ahead. All right. I think the Astros will win tonight. And MVP is going to be El Tuve. in the ninth inning, he'll win the game. You'll walk off in the ninth inning? Yes, sir.

It will be the same thing as when we play New York. He'll win the game in the ninth. All right, Edward. Anything else? No, just remember that. All right, Edward and Sugarland, he has put his name on it. He is putting it all in the table. If Jose L. too, if there's a situation,

that's got to be unprecedented in the history of baseball. Jose Al Tuve with a home run to send the Astros to the World Series, which I think was like the sixth time that's happened ever with that ninth inning hit, with that ninth inning home run over O'Roldest Chapman. If he did that tonight, man, that would answer those World Series MVP questions. First of all, yes, he would be very much be World Series MVP. But I'm thinking in the annals of Houston sports history, because right now, as of right now, as of right now, now, it's Hakeemelajuan number one for me. And I don't know that there's particularly an argument to the contrary. He's the only one with two championships, one in MVP, two finals MVP, all that type of stuff,

carried the rockets for years and years and years. Akema Lajuan, the goat of Houston sports. If Altuva hits a walk-off hit or a walk-off home run to win a championship for the Houston Astros, would that put him at number one? Hmm. He's got an MVP. He hit that home run to send him to the World Series. He's been great in the postseason.

Basically, his entire postseason career, he's got like almost 15 postseason home runs or whatever it is. I don't know that if he passed, I don't know that he would pass Elijah one, but he pretty darn close. 713, 21, 25, 7.9 to the phone number, 713, 1, 2, 1, 2, 5, 7. 790. Let's go to, oh boy.

It's our guy, Josiah in Beaumont. Josiah is Roberto Osuna still trash. At the moment, but if he gives up a home run tonight, yes, he will be. I hope he gives up a home run. No, no, no, no, no. That's not how it works. You can't have somebody being trash one day and not trash the next. Either you're trash or you're not trash.

No, all right, clearly, he's not trash. He's not trash. I know that. It's obviously a stick that I do. Okay, I hope so. He can be trashed about one pitch a month is a very trash pitch. And unfortunately, sometimes it's an opportune time. But anyways, I'm calling to say, I'm pumped up to these Astros, Ross.

They're going to do it. I know it. Last time I talked to you guys was last Friday afternoon. I was defeated. I didn't think the Astros were going to do it. But, man, they proved me wrong. My wife proved me wrong. She was telling me, you just got to have faith.

they're going to do it. I didn't know, but man, they came through. We got three big wins. I'm pumped up. We're going to do it, man. And I can't wait to do it and see stupid Alex Rodriguez have to sit there on the post game of that box. You can't say that on the air, Josiah. That was a real treat for you. I heard radio folks. Yeah. Let's just say Josiah has issues with Alex Rodriguez, and we can leave it with that. That'll be. an interesting angle for sure because I mean I think Alex Rodriguez, I don't know if he just hates the Astros or

maybe he just loves the Yankees so much and he's just upset that the Astros knock them out especially in dramatic fashion. But that will be interesting to see the way he goes about things in the post game setting. Of course, he'll probably be somewhat professional or mostly professional and give kudos to the Astros for the

World Series championship. But I can't answer the question that you asked Josiah. I don't have the answer of that question. And I'll just have to leave that that. All right. Let's go, let's see. Elwood in spring. Please watch us of that call. That dude, I was trying. But I would answer it to probably be 12th. Oh, geez. Hey, but my World Series and repeat, I think with all the stuff that went through, the

ridicule, I think Carlos Carrillo is going to hit two home runs tonight. He's going to win World Series. World Series. And repeat, throughout the Ridicue, I'll trade talking and everything. I think that'll be poetic justice for that young man. I feel like he's had poetic justice and other times. I mean, he had that walk off in what was it, game two of was at the ALCS

and then he hit a big three run, home run later in that series. He got a home run in the last game. I mean, I feel like for the most part he's redeemed himself. But the problem is with me, with him, Elwood, he either hits a home run or he looks completely lost striking out.

Like, why is there no in between with Carl's Correa so far the last couple of weeks. I just think he's not shortening his swing. I don't know. I don't know. I can't really say. I mean, I don't consider him. You know, people came in with that

A-Roy comparisons and all that stuff. I've never considered him a 50-home-run, 45-hound-run guy anyway. I just think he's a real good player with the defense. I just think, you know, you get what you get with him. I mean, if he bats 285 or whatever, I think that's what you're going to get from Colorado's

career, I don't think you're going to get the monster numbers because he's such a big guy. People assume that I don't think he's that type of player. But I think he's going to do some part of justice tonight, man, and I hang up a list. Go ask him. Thanks a lot. Well, appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, look, if you actually look at the pace, though, that he had this year, he hit 279.

He had 21 home runs in only 75 games. So if you double that up with 150, obviously, you're at 42 home run. So I think he does have that in his bat, the 40 home run power. 50 may be a little bit of a stretch, but we'll have to see as that goes on. But I definitely think we could see Carlos Correy as a guy who hits 300, somewhere around 35, 40 home runs, and then plays stellar shortstop in spectacular shorts. I mean, honestly, the way that he goes out there and he's flying around and that

cannon of an arm that he has, it's just can he stay on the field long enough for that to happen. That's always been the big case. So Elwood says two home runs for Carlos. Correa tonight. That would be huge. I would put him in contention. I would imagine for World Series MVP. It'll be interesting to see where though. That's the thing I love about this Astros team, though, is when you say who's going to be the World Series MVP? We don't know because there are so many guys that could be candidates. I think Will Harris is a sneaky candidate. Obviously,

Jose Altovae. Michael Brantley's been hitting like crazy. There's a lot of candidates for World Series MVP, and that means the team is playing well as. a collective and that's important. 713, 2,1, 2,5, 790. The phone number 712, 1,000, 790, not a phone line open, but as we take them, they will open up. We'll get to all you guys on the phones.

We'll hear from A.J. Hinch, all that and more coming up here on the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Yo, this is Bunby, and my wife is the biggest fan of the whitest man in America. Matt Thomas, Matt Troy. Reckless, ratchet, and don't give a fuck. Yo, what's up? This is a Trillo G

out of 409. What? I know I rep UGK for life, but it's October, and the Houston Astros is in the playoffs, baby. We in the postseason, and it's about to go down. So if you got love for the Houston Astros, like the Trilogy, got love for the Houston Astros, and you rocking your orange and you're blue, you know what it's time to do. Put the pages up in the air, baby, let's go. Crush, City, Mike. Crush, Crush, City, Mike.

Crush, City, Mike. Crush, Chris, Chris, City, Mike. The best part about this song is, like, the old Astros that he mentions. Who these guys, I fixed that. Oh, you did? I want to hear him talk about Chris Carter and Yeah, it's just It's just going to be Crush City

endlessly now Like Evan Gaddis Aw He's like 200 The Astros keep it 200 Like the hits from Altuvei That's a good line Lance Erland wrote that line for this song

Sorry I untrilled The OG NFL.com of course Lance airline 713212-25790 The phone number Welcome back Matt Thomas show Matt Thomas is being fancy

Matt he's traveling in his highfalutin private jet with the Houston Rockets. He's flying it to Washington so that the, for the broadcast, rockets playing the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. But he will be part of the coverage here if the Astros went tonight. Like I said, we're going around the clock. First of all, I'm going to be at the Academy Sports and Outdoors Kirby location. You guys want to come by.

Say hello. Get yourself some World Series gear. This is in the event of a win. in the event of a win, of course. So big asterisk there. And you'll have Michael Connor and Chris Gordy from Homeplay Bar and Grill from 11 to 2. Adam and Adam from here in the studio,

2 to 4, Matt Thomas 4 to 6, and then Sean Salisbury, bright and early in the morning with World Series Champion coverage, hopefully if the Astros get it done tonight. 713, 2,1,25790. Let's get one in here ahead of hearing from AJ Hinch.

James in Oak Forest. here on the phone lines. What's up, James? Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my goal. Hello. Yeah, go ahead. What's you got? Well, the one person I want to bring up about the MVP voting, and I seriously doubt he's going to get into consideration. But I love what Robinson Chorinos has done in the World Series. He had a home run in game three. He had a home run in game four,

and he's had to navigate his way through a number of pitchers, especially with Joe Smith in the lineup, you know, having to go from a Burlander to two completely different styles of pitching. And he navigated his way through there with those pitchers brilliantly, keeping, you know, Washington for scoring any runs. And I just have to throw an awful lot of love towards Robinson Cherinos. And I honestly think that what he's done behind the plate has been so terrific, it should garner him some attention for MVP.

You know what? I'm okay with that, James. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't know that he's going to get a whole lot of consideration. But, I mean, the couple of home runs, he's hitting 364 so far in the World Series. He's been important. He's hitting big hits for AJ Hint and the squad. So I think if you look at far as far as numbers, Jordan Alvarez is actually hitting the best so far in the World Series.

He has the one home run. He's got six hits and 11 at Bats. He's hitting 545 in the World Series. So safe to say, it looks like he's turned it around. from his struggles there in the ALCS, but Jose Altuvei, doesn't have a home run yet, but he's got nine hits. Then Michael Brantley's got eight hits, no home run. So it'll be interesting.

It's kind of spread out the way that it's looking. I mean, you got guys who are not hitting well, but they're hitting home runs, and you guys that are hitting well and not hitting home runs, and then there's the pitcher standpoint. Like I said, Will Harris has been getting important outs. I mean, Jose Arkiti only made one start, but what he did was pivotal in the series. So basically, the Astros have been. throw in the kitchen sink at the Washington Nationals.

And that's why they've been able to get where they are up now three, two in the series with a chance to close it out at home. Let's go ahead and hear from Astros manager, A.J. Hinch, he leads the way, of course, for this Astro squad. He joined the Matt Thomas Show, as he does every single week during the season earlier today. I wanted to hear you guys to hear some of that conversation. So here's A.J. Hinch. Speaking of Robinson Torinos, he handles Justin Verlander and J.V. Cole.

And A.J. was asked by Matt about his kind of. conversations on game days with those top two guys. I'm going to assume that your conversations on game days with JV and Garrett and some of your veteran pitchers are minimal. What went through your mind? What did you want to tell Jose before he went out there and pitched an absolute masterpiece for you? You know, I try to be very consistent no matter who it is.

And, you know, I have a routine with all of them. They're all different. You know, some guys are days before. Some guys are the day of and even during their outings. I don't really change. I mean, I know everybody wants the dramatic, you know, like talk to him before a big outing. And I try to act the same way with her,

he did he started here before. I mean, obviously I wanted him to attack the strike zone. We wanted him to use his pitches in a certain way. We went over that and, you know, try our best. If we act normal and we act like at the June start or a July start, then maybe he can settle in because it's what he's used to. And the same goes for today.

I mean, I met with JV yesterday. We started talking a little bit of baseball, a little bit of the first five games, the different areas of the strikes on that we've gone, some places that we've avoided, the positives and negatives of that. But, you know, I'm not going to change the way I talk to these guys or the way I look at these guys just because of the ramifications of the game. I think that's the model of consistency is what they need at the time where everyone around them is going to make it a bigger deal.

AJ Hinch with us here on the Matt Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. Skip, why hasn't a home team won a game in the series? Well, because we haven't had a chance to play back at home again, I hope. I hope that's just kind of a weird part. But I don't know, I think two really good teams that, I mean, we outplayed them in Washington, and we didn't care what venue were in, and they came in and beat two of our big boys and got off to a good start in the series. So I don't, you know, there's no guaranteeing victory no matter where you're playing. And this is two of the best teams in baseball, and we've got to, you know, got to play better at home.

you know, mostly we fell apart in game two, and, you know, they delivered a tough, a tough entry into the series by scoring five off of Garrett. But they beat us, which is why we didn't win the first two games. Skip, what is the managerial protocol on starting pitching? And more importantly, when will you think it's appropriate, you'll find out if Max Scherzer can go if indeed there is a game seven, hopefully not? Well, they'll have to announce it today, or they'll be asked, and they'll probably. probably push it off to tomorrow. And honestly, I don't really care what they say today or tomorrow. We're pretty locked in on game six. So, you know, after the game, you know, I'm expecting to know a little bit more if they win. If they don't, I don't care. I'll be celebrating. So I think,

I think that what I would expect is sometime early tomorrow afternoon. If we have a game, then they would let us know. And they, by the way, they've handled, they handled that perfectly fine by me. I was joking about Breggman being the one telling me, but that wasn't a shot at the nap. That was, you know, it came about the same time. Joe Espada and Chip Hill, the two bench coaches communicated that they had a lineup

issue. They don't have to disclose to us that it was a pitching issue. I don't blame them, but they handled the game five communication perfectly fine. All right, I want to talk about a couple of the guys that I think you've really, and again, I'm only going off of the pictures I see on Fox.

Will Harris, every time you've called on him. I mean, this is a guy last year to frankly, I wouldn't say it was public enemy number one, but he didn't have the season that he probably wanted nor the Jew. What had bounced back for him and then seeing Joe Smith with the storyline of he's been in all these games and all these years for able to come in and help you out. Tell us a little bit about both of them and some of the things you've been able to discuss and kind of celebrate with these two guys giving them most of their opportunities. No, I'm glad you asked me because I love these two guys. You know, on the field, they've been very good for us, obviously, but in the

clubhouse off the field, two guys that I expect to stay in touch with for the remainder of our careers and well into retirement. These are two really, really awesome individuals. And Will, in particular, has been kind of my go-to guy for five years. I've used them in the most critical times. I don't have the stat, but I bet he's inherited more runners than any pitcher that I've ever pitched in my managerial career. I trust him. I know he's going to throw strikes. He's got a wipeout pitch in his curveball. he's got some resiliency, he's got some toughness. We've seen all of that, you know, in the most critical parts of our wins in the series.

So I love the fact that he's getting to do some interviews. He's getting some exposure. He's been an All-Star before. And ironically, I think he struck out Diaz at the All-Star game in San Diego when he got to get a little bit of attention. But relievers in general only get talked about when they blow a lead for the most part. It's kind of they do their job when they get out. and something's wrong with them, what they don't. And the fact that I had to tell Will last year in the ALCS

that he wasn't on the playoff roster, he was very, very tough for me because I've trusted him and utilized him the most. Joe Smith, you know, coming back from injury and just being active again at his age in his mid-30s, he's coming up in Achilles, he's got the funky delivery, and just getting him back active again. We had a lot of questions on how, you know,

was the velocity going to come down? How was his mobility going to be? he does have kind of a funky delivery that needs his health in order for him to be effective. And he's just taking the opportunity and run with it. He got active and then he got a little bit better and he got a little bit better and a little bit stronger. And as the season trended at the end, I started using him a little bit more high leverage and back of the back of the bullpen type stuff. And that's, you know, he's done that before. He's been a primary reliever for a really long time.

But I was so proud of him to get him into the world. series game for the first time in his career and then watching him not just get to play but actually get to get to contribute to wins. It's been really fun. I had a nice moment with him in the dugout the other day where we were joking about some pitch calling and and his demeanor is so easy to root for and I can't say high enough praise for these two. Ashtros manager, AJ Hinch with Matt Thomas earlier today. Full conversation available at sports talk 790.com. The what's on Matt's mind show page. All right, Ross, Vio, Real with you, folks.

One segment to go. All you on hold will get to you a couple of you guys, a couple lines open if you want to get in. 713, 2,1, 2,1, 2, 5, 790. We'll get your game 6 predictions next. Matt Thomas continues on Sports Talk 790. Your rockets, your Astros, your voice. I rep for my city.

Go hard for the hood. Still posting on that block bus. Final segment, Matt Thomas show here. Clearly without Matt Thomas. Ross Villarreal with you folks. A couple of y'all in would get you in. So let's not mess around. 713, 21, 2, 15790.

7-1-3-1-2-5-7-90. Astros, Nationals, World Series, Game 6. What say you? Let's go to Cameron in Katie. What's up, Cameron? Hey, yeah. First of all, I think Justin Berlander, he's going to win it tonight.

He's going to get his first World Series win. He's going to take it tonight. But if that doesn't happen And Grinky pitches a good game And game seven gives up two runs or less And we win It would be obvious to me In my humble opinion

That he deserved the World Series MVP Two wins He got the first win And with a second win With a good performance He deserved the World Series MVP A Grinky you're saying Grinky

Grinkey has that Grinkey Well I mean technically he didn't get the win Because he didn't go five innings in the first game. But I mean, I get what you're saying. If he goes like six innings or something like that and doesn't give up a run and only gives up one, that would be pretty good on his resume to have 10 plus innings of scoreless or close to it ball in the World Series. And like I said, there's nobody, it's basically a close race right now. There's nobody that has, you know, their nose ahead of the game in this race because of so

many guys that are contributing to these wins. Yeah. They go stroves. sir. All right, Cameron. Thanks a lot. Appreciate you getting in. 713, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. Let's keep it rolling along here. Clyde and Humble here on the Matt time of show. What's up, Clyde? Hey, guys. I'm going to go for my MVP. People kind of forgetting. I'm going to go with Brantley and Bergman. They got the numbers. And I predict the extras win about 8 to 2. 8 to 2. Okay. Well, Breggman hasn't been super great. I mean, he's hit the world. He hit the Grand Slam, obviously. That was helpful.

But I think outside of that, he's somewhat struggled. Yeah, he's four for 22 in the World Series. Thanks a lot, Clyde. Appreciate you getting in. Michael Brantley, I think if he has another big night at the plate, if he gets a couple of hits, I mean, even though he hadn't had a home run and he hadn't been

driving in a ton of runs, gosh, I think it's just so difficult right now. If you're going strictly on RBI, Alex Breggman has seven, but he's got four hits, but obviously four of those coming on the grand slam. But were those really valuable since they were

uneat and unnecessary? Yeah, I guess at the end of the day they weren't necessary. That's true. These are the difficult decisions that whoever has to make this call is going to have to deal with tonight if the Astros win. I think we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves assuming that the Astros are going to win. They are favored.

They are close to two to one favorites. Stephen Strassberg is good and the Nationals have gotten to Justin Verlander earlier in this series. So not necessarily a given that the Astros are going to win. Let's go to Mitchell in Bluntville, Tennessee. Mitchell, are you getting really high or is Bluntville, Tennessee an actual city?

Bluntville, Tennessee is an actual city. It's a dot on a road map. Oh, does Snoop Dog live there? No, Snoop Dog doesn't live. There are a lot of Snoop Dog fans here. Okay. No, Snoop Dog doesn't live here. I listen to you guys every day.

I love all of you except La Lima. La Lima drives me insane. Okay. I'm kidding. I was going to say you're the one. Do what now? Nothing. Go ahead, Mitchell.

Okay, I'm sorry. I'm going to say tonight's going to be a firework show. It's going to be a lot of hitting. Stroze are going to knock Strasberg out early. Wow. But they're going to win in a shootout. Yeah, going out on a limb. and just tickled to death

and been an Astros fan forever. Wanted to kind of get this in, and it's silly, but the girl, actually the girl that cuts my hairs from Houston, and she gives me grief all the time for being an Astros fan and a Cowboys fan. She says,

I can't be both. And I said, I was a National League baseball fan when I was little, so I picked Astros instead of the Rangers. So I've been a Cowboys and Astros fan all my life, got family and DFW, actually.

She gives me gritty. on that. I don't know. Y'all have any kind of, you know, help for me? No, not really. Okay. Okay. Well, and as far as Josiah goes, I'll just say, yeah, and Arod likes to speak about. All right, all right.

Enough of you people with talking about Josiah in his call. There's a reason we dumped him. We don't want to talk about that subject. But look, I mean, if you're an Ashros and Cowboys fan, if you've been that way your whole life, that's the way it's going to be. You're not going to change. Now, if you're Mr. Ranger guy back around

2011 or in 2010 and around those years when they were going to the World Series and stuff and now you're like, oh, you know what, I like the Astros. Actually, that's okay too. A lot of people get upset with people hopping on bandwagons, and I say, you know what? You know what happens when people are on bandwagons?

That means your team is really good. So you don't have to be mad at people for rooting for a team. Just because somebody wasn't rooting for 111 lost baseball, like who's the actual smart one? If you're watching all those games and spending money on a team that's actively trying not to win and the other guy is just going about

their lives and then they come and they start paying attention to the team when they win when they're actually trying? Doesn't that make a little more sense when you think about it? But you get so protective of our fandom, I think that's something that we need to do lesser of as a society. 713-1-21-25790.

Let's go to Carrie in the gallery. What's up, Carrie? Hi, how you doing? I'm well. What's up? Good. So, first of all, I wanted to say I just flew in. It was a fun flight from Dallas. But coming to the game tonight, I grew up here, live in Dallas.

So I'm kind of a Dallas-Stars fan, a Texan fan, and an Astro fan. So there you go. It's very confusing. But I was a Ranger fan, too, when they weren't in the same division. But once they moved over, I was done with it. Yeah, you got to make a choice at that point. I'm with you. Yeah.

So anyway, the reason I called is, well, first of all, I wanted to just take you guys, I've been listening on my heart up in Dallas, and I love your programming. I've been talking sports, and it's been awesome. I love Sirius Radio and hearing Steve Sparks and Ford do the broadcast there. So it's been, I've been blessed to be able to do that this year. So I want to thank you for that. And then tonight, I had to take a guess on which game. I thought that they were going to clinch, and I really think it's going to be today.

I can't see Burlander losing six World Series games. been around. All right. Thanks, Carrie. I hope you're right. I think he's going to be ready. I think the Ashos are going to be ready. I'm feeling confident.

I mean, it's funny how you go from when they lost two straight. I was confident they were still going to win the series, but I was shaking a little bit of my confidence. And I think anybody who tells you that they weren't a little bit worried as a liar. Even A.J. Hinch and even Alex Bregman and even whoever, who are saying, you know what, yes, they were probably keeping an even keel. Yes, they were probably confident. They were going to win.

But you're going to tell me there wasn't one little moment. moment where you say, man, maybe we can lose this series. That's how I felt. I was confident they were going to win. I was a little bit shaken. And it's funny how it's just completely flipped upside down now with these three straight wins. I think everybody's riding high predicting an Astros clinch tonight. All right. Let's go to on the phone line. 713. 2.12.5.7. I any holding the longest is Corey in spring. What's up, Corey? Hey, guys. Hey, I just wanted to talk about the NBB.

for tonight. They asked for us what win tonight. And basically, I hear everybody talking about who they think is going to be the MVP who's deserving of it. And it's a hard conversation to have because nobody's really stuck out throughout this whole series individually. But what I was going to say, or what I've been thinking is that you can't really decide who's going to be until after the game tonight. And that's going to be because whoever shines the most tonight is going to be who wins it anyway. Yeah, you think it'll be more of a, like, a recency bias type of thing? I think, there's just a number of candidates who can go, who can make that leap.

Because like we've said, there's a number of guys who can make it. I mean, there's arguments for Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve's been hit like crazy as well. And then from the pitching standpoint, like I mentioned, Will Harris as a dark horse. And somebody said Robinson Cherinos, which I'll take that argument, honestly. I mean, I just think there's so many guys who are contributing. And nobody has just been utterly completely dominant throughout the series for the Astros. easily like you named four or five guys out there.

There's probably four or five, six guys. We're off the bat that any one of those guys have the bigger game tonight will win. He had two runs. And it's been great. Brantley's been great, but he hasn't really been that much of the run in the first place. But he has a big home run tonight.

It could very easily be him. All right. Thanks a lot, Corey. Appreciate you getting in. All right, folks, that's going to do it for the Matt Thomas show. There's a number of you guys on hold. You can hang tight. You got Adam Wexler, Adam Klan, coming up next.

The A team. broadcasting live from home plate bar and grill. Once again, if the Astros clinch tonight, you're going to have full coverage. Connor and Gordy from 11 to 2, maybe a little bit of me sprinkled in there. You're going to have Adam and Adam from 2 to 4 and then Matt Thomas, 4 to 6 in the event of an Astros World Series championship here tonight on Sports Talk 7.90 Full around the clock coverage. All right, thanks to all you for listening, calling, tweeting, being involved in the show. Thanks to Nick Lowe, producing, doing a great job, as always.

I'll talk to you guys, hopefully tonight as the Astros try to clinch. Next up here, the A-team here on Sports Talk 790. All you on hold, keep it right here for Adam and Adam. And the streets used to be complicated, but now what's all be the drug is strong-arm related, but never can the bomb be faded, fool, bring the alarm, pole it dawn, made.