The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 10-30-19

Episode Date: October 30, 2019

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 10/30/19Trying to get past the Game 6 loss Astros RevivalMike Stanton Joins Matt To Talk World Series Game 7 Jake Kaplan joins Matt to talk Greinke vs Scherzer

It's larger than life. Yeah. Lunch timers is the Matt Thomas show. Hitchtown, what's happening in lunchtomers? Good afternoon to you, and welcome to a double dose of Houston versus Washington. It's the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. He's bounced against the shift through the right side. That's going to be a base hit.

Around third is Turner. He will score. Anthony Rendon. picks up his third RBI of the World Series, and the Nationals have a 1-0-0 lead. And that's drilled down the right field line hooking, and that ball is gone. Adam Eaton ties the game at 2

with his second home run of the World Series. That got out of here in a hurry. And that's hit well and hit deep to right, kiss it goodbye. Juan Soto hits one into the second deck. That was absolutely blasted. One of the longest home runs you'll see by a left-handed hitter at Minutemate Park. This goes Rendon, a two-run shot, and the Nationals lead at 5 to 2.

It's driven deep to right center. Redick on his horse going back, and that's off the wall. Scoring is Turner, eaten right behind him. Rendon has driven in five tonight, and the Nationals' lead is 7 to 2. Rendon in the second with a double. Let's get it out of our system. Let's just absorb that was the misery of yesterday and think about hopefully in about 10 hours, maybe 11 hours from now.

It's all a thing of the past as the Astros win their second World Series championship. Good afternoon, everyone. It is the Matt Thomas show from Washington, D.C., ironically enough, and Houston, Texas, where Nick Lowe is producing. Ross is my co-host and I'm Matt the host and we are very happy to have you with us. Ross, you and I were a little scared about a game seven. And, okay, don't even, don't even say a word. Don't, don't even say a word.

You don't want to hear what I have to say. I can already hear it in your deep breaths, your reservation, if you will. Don't want to hear it. Then don't ask me. That's right. Because honestly, every time we make a prediction about an Astros, we said this on the show yesterday, every time I make a prediction,

we always had the Astros winning. So maybe we got to turn it around a little bit. Maybe I'm going to genuinely turn it around a little bit. Well, okay, let me be glass half-full guy, okay? How is Max Scher with an injection all of a sudden going to be the Max Scherzer of what he's normally is? I mean, how is that supposed to be? How is he supposed to be that guy?

Well, we don't even know if he can throw off of a mound. Flatground's one thing. Off of a mound's a different animal. I'm trying. Okay. I'm trying Houston, Texas. Now, Ross, you're going to have to be an actor because we have a revival coming up at one half hour.

Oh, great. I'll get into character at that point. The Reverend Sports RV will have to get into character. And let me tell you something, my friend. You better sell it to this audience. I will. I don't care. I don't even care if you mean it.

You just have to sell it. I'll turn it around. I can fake it. All right. Here's what we're going to do. We have guests. We have the revival. We have you.

We have Nick. We have Ross. We have me. And I can just tell you, Rossi, I was in this exact same situation two years ago. I was calling the Rockets' Nick's game the same night as game seven of the World Series. That was obviously in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

this is just 25 times weirder because I'm in the city where the National League champions are. I'm in the city that I was at a bar yesterday with about, it was 25% full, and it was about five or six national fans. There was a little bit of clapping. 25% are you sure? I saw that because I saw that picture that you posted. It looked like you're about the only person in there. Well, and to tell you the gods on his truth, that was one side of the bar.

Oh, okay. The bar, at the bar, literally at something was pretty full. You're gaming the system. Okay. Well, it wasn't full. No, it looked good. You know, and we as the Houston contingent cheered a lot louder than the Washington, like the people that live there. Yeah, it was like you and Clint Capella.

Yeah, that's right. You know, me, James Russ, coached Antony, clutch. Mm-hmm. You know. Ben McLemore. So what I did is I took the photo and then somebody from D.C. got a hold of the photo. Again, on Twitter, I don't know how it works out that way. I don't know how Twitter works, but he's like, you're not even in D.C.

You're in the Virginia suburbs. I'm like, wait a minute. It's not like I'm a thousand miles away. I'm 15 miles away from your stadium. Get a hold of yourself. So, yeah, Nationals fever isn't crazy. But you know what it is crazy? Ross is turning on the local television news here and having TV reporter guy wearing national gear,

waving his red towel, go gnats. That's about as irritating as it gets. I mean, we have that here in Houston. Correct. It's just double irritating when it's the other team. You can tolerate it when it's a Houston team when they're wearing orange going, go Stroze, love you. We love you all the way. Go Jose Altavei, we love you. Yeah, come on. It's like some guy who just moved. moved here from like Phoenix in the last six months, putting on his Astros gear and his Astros Beanie, acting like he's going all hard for the Astros and can't name five on the team. You know what I want to do is? I want to get that guy's cell phone number to any of those TV sessions. Yeah, named three Astros go. You could probably be three. I want him to name three Astros from like the 2015 team or something.

Oh, how about this? Name four members of the Astros bullpen. There's no chance that's happening. Yeah, that's true. All right. 1230, the revival. And whether Ross is acting or not, we'll have to. find out. Okay. One o'clock, Mike Stanton's going to join us for a few minutes. Two o'clock, Jeff Kaplan, Jeff Kaplan, Jake Kaplan from the Athletic. We have, believe it or not, at 252. And then other than that, it's just you and me and Ross and Nick and the whole crew today at 713-212-5-790.

7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Ross, we've got a lot of different things I want to get to. Let me just get to one in this opening segment. Justin Verlinder is amazing, right? Yes. He won 20 games, right? Yes. He threw a no-hitter, right?

Yes. Why can't he be Steven Strasberg in the World Series? There you are those heavy size again. I just, yeah, man, I just not in a great mood. I got to be honest with you. I'm just going to have to call off the show, I think. Well, the show must go on, as we say. I'm questionable with infinite sadness.

Are you doing this because you're trying to pump yourself up later, or you really legitimately believe this? Matt, I don't go fake on this show. I'm not feeling great about this game. I'm not feeling great about what happened last night. Justin Verlander was, I mean, five innings pitched, three runs given up. That's that grinky stuff we would ask from him. We're asking Justin Verlander, and I know it's a very high bar, but we're asking him to go 7, 8, give up one.

And I know the bats weren't going as well. We got a lot, like you said, there's a lot of angles to this. There's a lot of ways we can go. There were a lot of key at bats where the Astros didn't come through. But one of the stories of the playoffs has been that Justin Verlander, of his first start, he really hasn't been himself. And I don't know if some of this all has to do with the fact that he went on those three days rest because he's never seemed to have recovered from that.

And you know what, though? I would honestly, Ross chalk it up to, I think he's out of gas. I don't even think if four days rest would have been that big of a deal. I think the arms, like, you know what, I'm done. I've given you everything I've can. I've given you 200 plus innings. I've given you more strikeouts. I've given you a no hitter.

I've given you 20 wins. I think the arm's done. Arm is like, you know what, man? Father time always wins. You're amazing for six plus months, for seven months. That last couple weeks, you're going to be pedestrian at best. Yeah, I mean, how many times would we have seen him get pulled after only five innings and only 93 pitches throughout the entire season?

I mean, I can look it up, but I'm going to guess that happened like less than two times. And you know what, if you looked at the, and his demeanor, he wasn't like, you know, because I, let's peel the curtain back. it's very difficult for AJ Hinch to pull Justin Verlender from anything. You know what I'm saying? I mean, J.B. He's going to get a death stare. Yeah, he's a super diva.

We have incredible athletes in Houston, but they're also divas. And I fully accept divinness because when you're a diva, that means you are exemplary. You are one of the best. You are the goats. So for A.J. Hinch to pull him, AJ's like, okay, this is going to suck, but I'm going to do it. And he had to do it.

And then Will Harris One characteristic bad pitch this off-season hurt I mean this postseason hurt Yeah I wouldn't why why does Stephen Strassburg get to be awesome after he was tipping his pitches in the first inning And then he goes seven and a third after that and keeps the asteros completely off base Why does he get to be awesome in October I mean five and oh this postseason and why does Justin Verlinder still have a zero in the world series one column

I want answers to these questions my friends, and I demand I get answers. 713-212-5-7-90. To tell you the truth, Ross, you just heard this, folks. Ross ain't feeling it? I would be lying to you if I was like, hey, man, we got this. Do I feel confident they can do it? Yeah.

But something's, Washington's got it going on. And the road teams have it going on. What is up with this? Six games, six World Series. series games. Didn't the Astros fight for a home field advantage through aught throughout the playoffs throughout the world? This is why they got it. And hell, I've had people texting me and email me, Matt, can they move the game to Washington, D.C.? It's the weirdest thing ever. And we'll discuss it throughout the day. Here on the Matt Thomas show, including a revival where

we will get Ross off the ashes. We will get him off of his downtrottent days and ways. And we'll make him uplift us. We will listen to the homily and thrive with it. I hope. 713-212-5-7-90. If you want to get in, one line is available. Come talk to us. If you want to help Ross get off the ledge,

or if you want to join him, I'm fair game either way. This is an incredible season. This is why we love sports for game sevens of awesome things, like the World Series. Hey, it's Lance McCullors. Back to Matt Tom. Curb ball swinging a misstack three. On Sports Talk 790, your home for Houston Astros baseball.

I mean, it's, you know, obviously we'd have liked to have won tonight, but we didn't. No time to dwell about it. I mean, it's turn the page and come tomorrow and win a baseball game. Yesterday, all my trouble seemed so far away. Not looks as though they're here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday. Suddenly. Now, this is a dirty, dastardly thing that Nick Lowe is doing

because, as he knows, I'm a huge Beatles fan and Paul McCartney fan. So I could pull a Michael Berry and just play the whole song, but that wouldn't be sports radio. Yeah, and we might be hearing from Paul McCartney's lawyers. Probably. Oh, there's no question. doing. All right. 713212.5.790. The revival is coming up. I cannot wait to hear it because you're going to drink an elixir during the next time out of the show. Why are you scared? Because you're

just afraid the Astros, Granky's not going to do the job, right? And that Scherger's going to be amazing. And the Astrobatts are going to be quiet. Am I getting close on this? If I just say Grinky versus Scherger, what are you thinking? I'm thinking Grinky's got to go five minutes to give up a run. How often has he done that once these playoffs? Well, you know what I want? I want the Astrobatts. I need the ferocious, for the love of God, this is the one time.

Just go to Crush City, May. Crush, Crush, Crush City, May. I mean, Strasbourg was amazing last night. Strasbourg was, he was basically, he was actually, he was just basically transcendent. I mean, he was 5 in the playoffs now. He was amazing. The pitches that he was spotting. And then the movement on his change-up and his curveball was incredible.

And I know there were a lot of key at bats at the Astros at. But there were times, I mean, Jose Al-Tuvae, we know that it takes, I mean, that guy could hit anything. Anything that he swings at, he's at least going to foul off. And he was just whiffing and looking completely bamboozled out there. So that's when I know that the pitchers got great stuff. When Jose Alt-Ovie is out there looking like he was last night, I know that you kind of have to tip your cap to the other guy. And Strasbourg was amazing. But what was Jose swinging at, Ross?

I don't know. He was so full. And Carlos Correa, I mean, you talk about literally Ross, feast or famine. He either he's hitting a home run and you're beating your chest and like, that's my man, Carlos. Or he is striking out like, why aren't you swinging? He had a double off the wall in the ninth when they were down five. I'm just telling you, and look, this is the most difficult time of the year in their profession. but schizophrenia is running rampant with the local nine.

It's just crazy. And my guess is maybe they're saying the exact same thing across town here in Washington, D.C. Maybe they're saying the same thing. Which nationals are going to show up. Hell, if I'm doing Washington radio right now today, Ross, which I guess I could be since I'm into the city. Yeah, don't you walk into the studio? Hi, I'm Matt. Hey, I'm Matt.

Nice to see you. You want to talk some World Series? I bet I can talk about both teams equally well. Yeah, you talk some Case Keenum as well while you're up there. I don't think so. How many people are going to be listening to my Rockets Wizards Wizards broadcast tonight? Be truthful. I'm doing the pregame.

I don't think I'll even listen to my own pregame. 6 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. Rockets Wizards. It's my first game of the year on the play-by-play. We should lay that out, by the way. Rockets coverage starts at 6 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. If you're looking for Astros, go to News Radio 740K-T-R-H. after the Rockets game, there will not be a Rockets wrap.

We will immediately rejoin back to 790. All right, I'm going to tell you something right now. While my partner crossed the way 1,000 miles from me is not feeling it. I am fully prepared to once again go 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. tomorrow morning as we celebrate a World Series victory. You okay with that? Yes. And I'm still on call, by the way, in the event of the Astros winning.

Kirby, location, upper-corby. Kirby location of Academy. I'll be out there hanging out, working the crowd in 40-degree weather and handing out prizes and getting you guys fired up as you wait in line to get some World Series championship gears. Eric in Bay City on 790 and 1224.

Hi, Eric. Hey, Matt, thank you for taking my call. I just want to say, you, Ross, and Nick, are the absolute best. Y'all, the best radio show, I'm a long-time listener. I don't really call much.

You all the best. I just want to say, we got this tonight, but I need to get something off my chest. I don't know if you remember a woman that called back in August saying Beth from Kingwood. Oh, yeah. I called in,

and I mocked her show saying I was Jeff from Kingwood as her husband. Okay. And the show's lost that night, and I just want to get that off my chest. And I'm a superstitious guy, baseball superstitious. Hey, Rob, I want to the University of Texas just like you, buddy. I know what it's like. So wait, wait, wait, wait, you're burying the lead.

So is Beth your wife or not? No, I mocked the show. I should not have done that. He was trolling us. It's fine. Oh, you trolled the show. We said we thought he might have been making. I believe it's best more than him.

Yeah, Beth doesn't have a gambling problem. Beth is not the nanny for the offensive wine coach for the Houston Texans. I made all that up. But I just wanted to say, y'all truly do have the greatest show on radio. If I was on the board for the Marconi Awards, you all have my votes. And we're going to win tonight. So everybody chill. Let's get it, age down.

Okay, sounds good. Appreciate you listening. 713, 212-790. 7-1-3-1-2-5-70. Remember the Beth? Beth was, though, was I supposed to buy her dinner for her and her husband, Jeff? Yes. But it had to be an offensive tackles, what the thing was.

So I was feeling very confident about that. Let's go to David on the south side at 1225. Hi, David. Hey, how are you doing, Matt? Love the show. Good, thank you. I agree with the other caller. Hey, Nick Lowe, kudos to your brother.

You're playing it great. Hey, Matt, do you mind if I talk to Ross just for a moment? I'll step aside. Hey, Ross. Yes. Hey, you're okay, buddy? I'm struggling over here, David. Help me out, buddy.

Hey, Rock, Ross. Give me a favor. Don't look down. Okay. Look out towards the horizon, Ross. Yes. All right? It looks gloomy.

Honestly, it looks kind of gloomy and cloudy and dark. That's okay, man, because the son will come out tomorrow, man. Listen, tonight's game seven, all right? We got a Cy Young winner on the mound. All right. He's going to get a knock tonight. He's going to drive in a run. Okay, so the pitching really hasn't been the issue.

are bats you're going to wake up. Wait, he's not hitting. Oh, that's right. We're in the American League Park. Okay, forget that pause off. No. This is not working. Five, four, three, two, one.

I'm sorry. Here come the Astros. Burning with desire. Come on, Nick, you've got to be on your A-game, my band. It's World Series. By the way, breathing orange, fire.

He said there is a Cy Young winner on the mound. Was he talking about Scherzzerz? or was he talking about Branky? Three times Syong Award winner. I just thought I'd bring that up. They've all won Syon. Feel better, Ross.

Here we go. This is actually making you feel better. This is a good jam. I'm not even kidding. Vamos. Go to. Vambezzarro. This actually has me ready for the revival.

When we return, Turn. The Reverend Sports RV provides a revival. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Joel Steen Ross can't bring in every Sunday. That's true.

No, that's not true. You know he's about to make $5 million every Sunday. Oh, maybe that was a bad example. Grifting these people. All right. You've got a massage with this song in the background? It wouldn't be terrible. No.

Woodhouse stayspots. We'll put any music on they want. You can keep it going. No, Woodhouse is mine. 70 services, massages, facials, body treatment, some manicures, Houston, Woodhousepaws.com Relaxation all year long, print the gift card out right there at Houston,

Woodhouse Spaws. Vintage for the North Siders, Sugar Land, Southsiders. Do it for you, your special loved one. Doesn't really matter. matter. Go, go to Houston Woodhouse Spine. TROS and rockets and unofficial, unbiased home of everything else. Sports Talk 790. As I am here in our nation's capital for the second most attractive game in the night featuring Houston and Washington. I send it back to our beautiful facilities back in Houston. We call it the Sports Talk 790 Cathedral, or I present to you, the Reverend Sports RV.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome in to the congregation of the Astros Tent Revival. If you would like to get in and step forth and testify, 713-2125-790 is your phone number 7-1-3-2125-7-90. Ladies and gentlemen, I come to you with a heavy heart today. As the Houston Astros had a chance to close out the World Series last night in a game six victory with Justin Verlander on the mound. But unfortunately, the good baseball lord saw fit to not have the Astros win last night, has Stephen Strassberg worked his wizardry and had balls diving all over the strike zone. and Jose Altuve was bamboozled at the plate.

But good ladies and gentlemen, I tell you that tonight, the Houston Ash Rose will rise above this strife. They will strike down their evil enemies, and they will find their way to World Series victory at Minute May Park. Oh, my deep and passionate friends, we know that the Lord has shown. stricken Max Scherzer with evil. He has two different colored eyes. Some say that's a genetic disorder.

I say that is evil in that man's eyes. We must strike it away from him. We must get dialed in. We must read his pitches. Good Lord, would you allow him to tip his pitches to the Astros hitters tonight so that the Astros can knock so many home runs into the Crawford boxes. Just as they have knocked. opponents down all post-season law they faced elimination against the evil devil

raise and now they face the evil Washington nationals oh my lord I ask that you please give strength to Zach Grinky as he takes the hill tonight we know Lord that you have given him various anxiety disorders and you have given him a blessed him with a right arm that can strike people out no matter how fast his pitches go. Whether it be 65 miles an hour or in the low 90s, we know that Zach Grinky is crafty. Just like you work in mysterious ways, Zach Grinky works in mysterious ways when he's striking out batters. We ask that you allow him to do this tonight because you have blessed him with a $35 million a year

in his contract. We ask that you bless him. and allow him to get out the evil hitters of the Washington Nationals. Like Anthony Rendon. Lord, he looks like the devil reincarnate. What's going on with that weird scraggly goatee that he has? Lord, he looks like the devil himself. And he's been launching balls into the fences,

and we understand that he went to Rice University. But that is not the Harvard of Southeast Texas. Yes, Reverend. Like the University of Houston Cougars. And by the way, Reverend. Sports RV. No heathen sticks to first base any longer, right? Oh, Matthew, I have no problem if these young men want to take their bat all the way to first base

or perhaps you would like to take it a whole trip around the base paths and ride it like a pony. Off into the sunset if you hit a big home run. But speaking of that, the young man Juan Soto. He is so precocious. At 21 years old. He has much to learn. So give him a hard lesson tonight, my baseball lords, and let him taste defeat in the World Series

so that he can grow and learn and that the Astros can win. Deacon Lowe, anything you care to comment for the clergy? I'll take that as a no. Deacon Lord has been answering phones. The phones are ringing off the hook with donations. And for that, we appreciate you. 713, 21, 25.

for testimonies and for donations. The collection plate is going around. Yes. But I must say, Lord, I pray that you have the officiating crew study their good book. And by the good book, I do mean the rules of Major League Baseball. Oh, continue to preach the gospel. And please, Lord, make their eyes strong, strong enough to tell the difference between a ball and a strike. because we are having so much trouble with that lately.

Lord, please answer these prayers, and I'll send the collection plate right back through. Yes, one more time, please, at least the collection plate, please. Thank you. All right, if you would like, if you're in the clergy today, here at the pew right now with your knees on the ground, you want to call 713-212-5-790 and preach the gospel with us.

7-13-212-5-790. This is the final. Final meeting for Reverend Sports RV. Until the Rockets lose five straight or something. Oh, I never quite thought of it that way. Hey, you have time for the Cougars, by the way, against UCF? They're a double-digit dog, Reverend Sports Harvey. There are some causes that are far too lost for me to revive, Mr. Thomas.

I was afraid you're going to say that. For example, the Texas Longhorns, at least they're not going to win this weekend, lose this weekend in the open week. All right, let's say hello to Brother Rick calling us from Pearland. Brother Rick, the floor is yours. Brother Rick, go ahead. Can you hear me? Go forth and testify.

Yes. I just want to say I'm a long-suffering cubs fan. We know all about praying for a victory, so you guys are going to get it tonight. I don't know why everybody's all in a tizzy, but if you wait 108 years for something to happen, y'all can wait two more. It's going to happen. Don't get all excited. Good luck. Man believes in looking at the book for history as compared to looking the here and the now

People are nervous That's why he brought sports RV to the mix All right, and one more time please the collection plate Yeah collection plate can you bring it to Washington DC my eggs cost a little like Oh no, Oh no Matthew it does not travel that far brother Matthew. I apologize Brother brother Brother sports have you may a listener listen

to my broadcast while watching the Astros in order so I'm not speaking to myself. I will put a radio on in the background of a room that I'm not going to be in in my apartment for you, Matthew. Be with you in spirit. You will be with you spirit. Just like the good spirits will be with the Houston Astros tonight at Mid and Maid Park. Max. Max on 790, go for it.

Yes. Father, I ask you to come into that Minute Maid Park and you be the deserals. designated heater each and every time. You guide those bats to glory, Jesus. And when the nationals are up to bat, you let that heat and come in and take care of those wild pictures going. But I could, I do command you to unleash those bats on those astros. And we rebuke, I say we rebuke any hits from those gnats.

Amen. Thank you. And that, my friends. Thank you, brother, Maximilian, is the revival. Ross, brother Ross, you did a fantastic job. Thank you. You feel better now? I'm tired.

Do you feel better than you were, did 24 minutes ago? The Vamos Astros and the revival, I'm feeling a little bit better about the stroves tonight. All right. Under no circumstance, Nicola, are you to play any depressing music the rest of the way? Because look, my glass is always half full. It's not completely full today, but it's half. We got to keep the glass at least half full. Your cup runneth over, Matthew.

That's right. Don't leave Matt Thomas in your car. Take him with you. Download the free IHeard Radio app for your phone at sports790.com. Just remember you'll have to feed him. Would you prefer that Alex Breggman not carry his back past first base? Yeah, he shouldn't carry the back past first base. Soto shouldn't carry it to first base either.

Here's how that went down, Ross. A.J. went to Bregman in the dugout or, well, in the dugout, tunnel on the way to the clubhouse or the clubhouse and says don't ever do that again. I'm not bothered by it, but I could see how a lot of people that were wearing uniforms and played the game would be bothered by it. It's a pretty big showbook call, but I'm not, again, I'm not in the dugout, I'm not playing. It didn't bother me. It didn't bother me when Soto did it, but it bothered a lot of people on both sides.

So I'm going to have to kind of defer to those that are actually in the game and playing it. But I don't think we'll see either one of it. And Bregman was the first one to say after the game last night. I shouldn't have done it. Yeah, Breggman came out and he said that's not the way he was raised to play the game and he apologized and all that stuff. But then Soto, when he was on with MLB Network and I was watching, he said, I thought it was pretty cool and that's why I did it.

So, I mean, I'm more on the Soto side and I'm with you. It doesn't bother me. I think it's, I don't know if this is cool. It was definitely, I was, I'll say this. I was surprised by it. I was like, wow, he just carried his bat all the way to first base. My first thought was that it was an homage to, uh, Altuve. If you remember, was it in the ALCS in 2017? I think maybe where he

hit a home run and he carried his bat about halfway down the line. So I thought that Alex Bregman was basically invoking that moment. But he said his emotions got the better of him, whatever. It didn't bother me at all. And when Soto did it, I thought it was cool. I think it's fun. I think that's how you get back at somebody who's showboating rather than throwing at their neck. You just go ahead and have them hit a bomb and let them do what they do. And it's just fun. I mean, they're supposed to hashtag let the kids play, and I had no issue with it, but clearly Hinch did, and Bregman had to walk back and apologize. And Dave Martinez did, too. He didn't like it either. And by the way, how about Davey Martinez? I mean, if you're going to get kicked

out of a World Series game, you do it the growing ass man way, and that's what he did. He earned it. And how about the fact the national people, they had won, and then eventually, I think Tim Bogart came over as a second coach, but there was, there weren't a whole lot of people running over there to get Martinez separated from the umpire. Dave Martinez looks like he likes to throw down. Like Dave Martinez looks like likes to fight guy. And I mean, I couldn't believe, like after the end, after it was Rendon hit that home run,

and then you're up, what were they up, like five to two at that point? Mm-hmm. And still in the half inning, you've got to go out there and cause all this ruckus. I mean, the umpires, credit to them, he could have been thrown out like five different times before any of that happened. And they just kind of had to throw him out. They had to because at some point, you just can't, you can, you can, it's a World Series. You don't want to be known as an umpire that's getting rid of somebody.

You just have to, there's a certainly where you can say, all right, enough is enough. And Dave, like, I don't care. He would have been, yeah. He could have been justifiably tossed like five times even before when he actually was. Yeah. And look, we have not talked about the running done the first base. I'm going to say a little bit more of that for Mike Stant. But my initial blush was wrong call. But in actuality, it was the right call. It's just a lousy rule very hard to interpret, frankly, Ross. and I think what it does is you don't want confusion about rule interpretation in any sport, especially in its penultimate game, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And that was the problem last night.

Perhaps it was the proper application of the rule, but it was something that happens all the time and never gets called. In a regular season game, it doesn't get called. Hell, and even in a September pennant chase game. Trey Turner, I mean, I don't blame him for how he took the game. The route. That's the thing is that if there was something very intentional to what he did, I get it. But I also on the same side defend Yule de Riel and the ability for the first basement to put his mid out to be able to catch the baseball.

Brad Peacost got to make a better throw as well. Well, that was the number one problem. It's a better throw to the shoulder. And this is a moot conversation. But we'll talk more about that with Mike Stanton coming up at the top of the hour. 713-212-5-790 if you want to get in. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-90. Let's say hi to Mason in Cyprus on the Matt Thomas show.

Mason, good afternoon to you. Yes, sir. Good afternoon, guys. Thank you taking my call. You got it. Hey, so we watched Tampa. We thought that was going to be a three-game sweep if you asked me about it. And we went five with them.

We came out strong. I got to be a game five, man. That was as high as you can get it a game. but as far as strategy goes, think about how Tampa this year has done a starting pitcher as a long reliever. What's a strategy on Erkiti being as hot as he was the other night maybe starting before you shuffle, before you get Grinky in, before that,

if Grinky only goes five, we wasted our four good arms today. So what's the strategy you think on maybe trying to start Arquitia for one or two innings get one or two out of them? No, because it's Zach Granky, $35 million, former Sayong winner. He's a guy that's supposed to be, you know, this is the reason why you made the trade July 31st. You don't want to get too gimmicky. Now, you might get crazy towards the end, Mason, with using guys like Garrett Cole out of the bullpen or maybe, you know, your key to use your first reliever.

But Zach Granky needs to be handed the ball and say, Zach, you're making a lot of money. You have a terrific, basically, a Hall of Fame resume. We need you here. And so this is not the time to be overthinking. It's time for Zach Rinky to go out and give you five or six innings and win this damn thing, right? Period. Yeah. That's all I'm saying. I agree. I agree.

You think Rikini's got an inning? Yes. You know, Cole, I guess two nights ago he said he was done. I'm sure he would be happy to go away. No, that's a lie. He's ready. Everybody's on deck. Thank you for the phone call. Mason, don't be a stranger to the show. Everybody's ready.

Rossi, I would think Justin Verlender could give you an inning if you absolutely needed it. Yeah, I don't think he'll be. Yeah, he's probably not going to be called upon. but I think outside of him it's all hands on deck. I wouldn't, I would say if just tell me yes or no, Matt, do we see Garrett Cole tonight? Yes. I think so as well. I think so as well.

Because it will be the last time he will wear a Houston Astro uniform. No, that's true, but that's not why AJ's going to throw him out there. No, it's not, but we're just going to give you the facts. Yeah, come on, Matt. You're going to bring us down right now. I'm not bringing you down. I was on the uptick, and now you've got to bring this into my life. No, no, no, I'm telling you that the last time he's going to pitch for an Astro,

he's going to help when the Astros won a world. series. That'd be beautiful. That should make you feel very encouraged, not feel disappointed. Okay. Cesar and Freepoint on 790. Hi, Cesar. Hi, good afternoon. I had a question. I understand that the nationals have come to wear the black uniform. I believe a couple of years ago, we weren't wearing our orange jerseys. We're not wearing them anymore. That was just my question. You know what? I know the nationals have gone with those Navy blues every single time out.

I don't know what the Astros are wearing. I guess I could send a text over to find out. There has been a little bit of buzz about changing the uniforms. Rossi, I don't, I'm not, I'm a huge of what you have to wear. I think you have to go on the diamond and win the baseball game. Yeah, I don't care. I don't care if they want to wear pink. I don't care if they want to wear those all whites.

Okay, probably don't wear the all whites from the players weekend. Those are pretty awful. But I don't, I don't care if they want to wear. Langerie. lingerie, Astros, or whatever. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to me. I have completely no opinion about that at all.

John on the Heights on 790. Hi, John. Hey, guys, how's it going? Good. Right on. Hey, guys, look, we're going to get this tonight, man. I got a good feeling about it, woke up with it, trusting Grinky. We just got to trust in him and hope our bat comes to life, man.

I know that's everybody saying that, but it's got a good feeling about it. Ross, don't sweat it, brother. Okay. Yeah, Ross, don't sweat it. I'm sweating a little bit. Let me tell you. Don't sweat it. The phone call.

Thank you. Thank you, John. We won't try not to sweat it. I don't know. Name the net the last, was game seven as tense as what this could be game seven? I mean, I would think the answer is yes, right? What do you mean? In 2017, right?

We were all in pins and needles. Yeah, but that game, luckily, they got out to a big league because U. Darvish was tipping his pitches. They got, didn't they score like five in the first two innings or something like that? And then they kind of just cruised and Charlie. Charlie Morton took it over. So it was tense and you were a little bit worried. But I'm, so one of the things that terrifies me is we might get the first actual good game. I mean, outside of game one, Matt, has there been any really compelling back and forth? Wow,

this is amazing baseball type of games? There really hasn't this whole world series. No, we'll just, we will think about this when we are old and eating food out of a blunderer, Ross, is we're thinking about who was the hero tonight. Yes. And in the first six games of the series, the road team won every single time. We'll be thinking about that and why that is. And oh, by the way, if Justin Verlainter can win one World Series game before he retires, we won't care about the other six losses. But if he goes into his retirement mode in two or three years with an 0 and 6 World Series record,

we'll be thinking about that. He's going to have four rings. They're going to win this year and then the next two years of his contract. He'll have four rings in five years, and he'll win a bunch of games in the next two World Series, Matt. I love it. It took us an hour, Ross. We got you turned in the corner.

feeling a little better. The callers are helping. Definitely Vamos Astros is helping as well. All right. Let's talk to Mike Stanton. He's next. It is the Matt Thomas show. Is the Matt Thomas show.

All right, time is 102. The station is Sports Talk 790, and it is the Matt Thomas show here from Washington, D.C. Where tonight I will be calling the Rockets and the Wizards. Normally a game you'd all have your ears attached to your wrist. attached to your radios, cell phones, whatever. I get it. Tonight might not be that night.

I'm doing 35 games, so you want to catch me, do one. I'd appreciate it. I'm not going to get mad at you. I'd like you to listen tonight, but, you know, I understand if you're not. Point being is this. It's Houston versus Washington on two different angles. Nationals and Astros for the World Series, championship, rockets, and wizards for game four of the regular season. 713-212-5-790 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-790 we'll hook up with Mike stanton coming up in just a couple of minutes

let's first go to some phone calls before we catch up with Mike and we'll start with Josh in Richmond on 790 hi Josh hey what's going on guys I think you're taking the call I was just going to join in on the discussion about you know the the the controversial call or supposed controversial call at first and kind of an And, well, I'll tell you this. I appreciate the fact that Joe Tocori came in and said what he said. But let me raise up this idea. All is instruction,

why wouldn't, especially on closer plays moving forward in the future, why wouldn't infielders or pitchers, for that matter, be trying to target the ball in the right side of the plate, generally speaking, to maybe give themselves, a better chance on close calls. You know what I mean? Do you understand that is what I'm saying? Not really. I'm going to let Mike Stanton explain a little bit on his side of things because I know he

has fielded a few ground balls in his day. And I think the way you're supposed to be taught is if you have a guy that's along that line, you throw at the back of that player so that ball hits the player and then normally the umpire and the games that I have seen have called them out. Our friend Mike Stanton from AT&T Sportsnet, former longtime major league pitcher is here to discuss this. Mike, is that what you're taught is to, if you got a runner on his way to first base and he's in that line, throw at his back, so the umpire will call him out? Well, yeah, that is something that is mentioned to players, but to tell you the truth, things happen so quickly.

You almost don't have time to do it. You know, really, the funny thing about this is base runners are told, you know, from a very young age to run on the inside of the line, to try and make that throw. a much more difficult angle. So it's, you know, you're actually taught that if you get hit and you're inside the line, it's going to be called interference every single time. And, you know, the funny thing about this play is it actually meant absolutely nothing on the, the outcome of the game. Right.

I mean, I just, I just got off my own radio show here a little while ago, and we talked about it for 40 minutes. And, you know, that was the ironic thing about, all of this is it had no bearing on the game, none, because Rondone hits the home run. But, yeah, I mean, it's just one of those obscure little rules in Major League are in baseball that, you know, that we all, that we have that, you know, it's, it's, really, Trey Turner is in a, a no-win situation because he has to reach for the base, which the base is in fair territory. But if he does that and he gets hit by the ball, he's going to get called interference.

Yeah. So, you know, it's kind of, I equated it to the same type situation when we went to the catcher rule where you can't run over the catcher anymore and they're supposed to be running lanes and this, that, and the other. There are situations that the game happens so fast that players get in situations that they have nowhere to go. And it's just an obscure part of the rule because the game happens faster than the rule book states it should. Well, the only thing I'm going to say about this, and I think you eloquently has mentioned the play itself, is that I don't know, Mike, and you and I love the game, you played it, you've been a part of it all your life, I don't know if I want my game six of a World Series to be mucked up with what that was last night, and the interpretation

and the fact that it wasn't a reviewable play, and that you couldn't protest. That's not, I mean, look, baseball's the hardest game to talk about as a talk show host, I'll be honest with you, because there are so many intricacies to it. It's a hardest sport to comprehend. of the three sports, but it didn't do itself any favors last night by having that long delay. Oh, no, no, not at all. And that's what everyone was talk about, whether it was post-game, whether it was, you know, today, the day after. And, you know, and to tell you the truth, by the letter of the law, that was the right call. By the concept of the law, by the idea of the

rule, it probably wasn't the right call because, you know, the ball was actually more towards the third base line. I mean, even if Trey Turner, you know, the ball hits Trey Turner, but the throw was a bad throw. You know, Peacock made a bad throw. The ball was up the third base line. So even with him on the

inside part of the line, it really shouldn't have made that big of a difference if Peacock makes the right throw. Another storyline. I, I, I, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but yeah, I agree with you. I mean, for that to be the storyline and not Strasbourg or not the Astros struggling offense or whatever it may be, you know, it's kind of

unfortunate that, you know, a pretty good baseball game was was kind of muddled up just simply because of that play. Mike Stanton, AT&T Sportsnet with us here on the Matt Thomas show. Mike, tipping pitches has become, it's been a part of baseball since you were playing, but I'm now hearing about it every single night. I hear Strasbourg essentially admit that his glove placement yesterday, was a sign of the Astros about tipping pitches. What has happened in the last three postseason series the Astros are in where tipping pitches has become such a huge part of the storyline here?

You know, I think it's always part of the storyline, but we just don't get it publicly. And, you know, in this day and age where it seems like all the information is out there for us to see and view and everyone talks about it, it's out there. And I thought that, the, The fascinating part of this, Matt, was the simple fact that in Straussberg's post-game sound, he kind of just admitted. He goes, yeah, it's something I do every once in a while. And they pointed it out and I fixed it. And we just went on that, you know, this is just kind of old hat for him.

Now, there's the other side of this that even if you know the pitch is coming, that doesn't necessarily mean the hitter is going to be able to square it up. You know, you looked in that first inning, those two balls that were hit really hard, both the Bregman home run and the Springer double. Those were both pitches basically right down the middle. They were all over the heart of the plate. And what did he do from there on out? Now, he may have fixed that little issue, whether it was really there or not,

because there's the psychological side of it also. What he did more than anything else was he dominated with his curveball. He threw almost 50% curveballs last night, and his curveball was filthy. The curveball and changeup kind of. the curveball and change-up combination. He really, he used well less than 50% of fastballs. And, you know, major league hitters, including the Astros, struggle against off speed pitches.

And that's really what Strassburg attacked with after that first inning. Mike, have you ever received a cortisone shot or anything in that shoulder area? And I'm curious how long it takes to recuperate if you've got any teammates that have gone through it. And what legitimately are we supposed to expect that of Max Scher tonight? Okay. First question, have I had cortisone shots? Matt, I can't tell you how many I've had. I've had them in my shoulder.

I've had them in my elbow. I've had them in knees. Usually they do say it's 48 to 72 hours after the cortisol for it to completely kick in. But, you know, we saw Max last night throwing in the bullpen. We saw clips of him playing catch prior to the game. He looked fine. It sounds awful to get a cortisone shot in your neck. I mean, that just sounds terrible.

But, you know, he looked like regular Max Scherzer. Now, what do we expect from him tonight? I'll tell you to you, I have no idea. You know, the one thing I think you can count on is Max is going to get national everything that he can possibly give them. Okay. But the other side of it, I don't know. The one thing that the wild card in all this is he had to sleep last night. So this is where the big issues came up a few nights ago when he couldn't get out of bed.

was after, you know, after sleeping awkwardly last night, the night before, it's going to be, it's going to be a fascinating game to watch, just simply because, you know, with it being the last game of the season, regardless of what happens for either team, you know, the managers are really brought into the limelight here. You know, how long do you stick with Scherzer? How long do you stick with Grinky? What moves do you make after that?

Do you bring one of your leverage relievers in in the fourth inning to get out of trouble? Do you save them for late in the game? And this is something that, you know, Davy Martinez has actually done several times already this year. We haven't seen A.J. Hinch have to do this. Now, we've seen him, you know, Zach Grinky has not gone deep into the games, and we've seen him go to the bullpen. But this is going to be fascinating to watch because I also completely 100% believe that A.J. Hinch has Garrett Cole in his back pocket. Last question.

and it's just on that. You have been starting since spring training. Now granted, the length of those games are short, but generally, you know, he's over 200 innings, all the different performances. From Garrett's perspective, if you were to Lee, give him any advice, does he change his approach at all,

knowing that he may be coming in a game with base runners already on the base pass, he may have to start out of the stretch, or he might be starting in the, say, fifth or sixth inning because that is obviously out of a norm for a guy that has been a starting pitcher, for as long as he's been in Houston Astro? All right, so best case scenario for Garrett Cole is that he does not come in with runners on base,

that you give him a clean inning. And that was that situation I mentioned just a second ago where you bring in one of your leverage, you bring in a Will Harris in that fourth or fifth inning to get Grinky out of trouble, and then you give Garrett Cole the time he needs to warm up and have as much of a regular warm-up you know, like when he's starting pitching, have a regular warm-up and start the inning clean. I do not like the idea. We've seen it several times over the last several years. Managers bring starting pitchers in with runners on base.

We've seen it work. We've also seen it not work. But to me, that is not setting up your players to succeed because it's a new situation. It's something that's never happened before. The real ironic thing about this with Garrett Cole is that he's never relieved before. He's never done this. Now, I think it's a little bit easier for him because he's a max effort power pitcher. So he's used to being right there on that edge.

You know, back in the day, you know, back, you go back to 17, you know, when you have a Dallas Keikle coming in, you know, much more of a finesse type pitcher. It's a lot harder to control your emotions and control the ball in those situations when you're all revved up. So, you know, Garrett Cole already pitches on the ragged edge anyways. So I would expect it not to be that big of a deal. But on the other side of it, you never know because he has never come out of a bullpen. So it's going to be a fascinating game.

Anything can happen on either side. And I think that's the one reason why A.J. Hinch really didn't want to get to a decisive game seven is just simply because it doesn't matter really how good you are or how good the other team is. Anything can happen in a situation like this. Mike, your insights are always very valuable to me, and I appreciate our friendship the last couple of years. Thank you for coming on my show today and enjoy the game and more importantly, enjoy your offseason, my friend. Thanks. Everybody enjoy Game 7, the spectacle that it is, Matt, anytime, my friend. All right, thank you, Mike. Mike, Stan with us here on the Matt Thomas show. Craig Bizzo here, the heart of the order is up right now.

Matt Thomas is swinging for the fences here on Sports Talk 790. Rossi, I like this song, but there's just one problem with it. It takes forever to get to the chorus. That's why Nick Lowe just fast-forwarded it for us. This song's much better when there's only 43 seconds of it. Don't you guys? Am I right on this? I'm not wrong, correct?

Yeah, it takes forever. He fast-forwarded it. As I'm saying, I appreciate Nick knowing that. This is the tail end of the song that you actually get the chorus. It's like you sing it and you sing it and you sing it and then finally the part you really want to go crazy on is at the very end. And the song's over. I did not stop it. Okay.

We are... Did you take a midnight train going anywhere, Matthew? I would take it to Georgia. Okay. I haven't... When's the last thing even been on a train? Like a real train. I was in California.

I took the Pacific Sunliner from L.A. to San Diego. How long that take? I think three hours, maybe. That's not terrible. It's like 20 or 30 bucks. It's not bad. They have food on the train and stuff like that. You would do it again or once is enough?

Absolutely, yeah. If I need, I mean, if I was in L.A. and I wanted to go to San Diego. Yeah, it's 110 miles, so it's not like it's not terrible. Yeah, maybe it wasn't three. Maybe it was like two hours. I can't remember. I was sleeping and eating, so, and drinking beer. You can drink beer.

It's great. Could you imagine if there was like a singles on the train? Would you like to do that? It'd be kind of fun. Yeah. Mingle in between carts. Like a singles cart, like it's designated. Mm-hmm.

And it'd be a bunch of old creepy dudes, though. Yeah, that's true. Like me. All right. And then young Afflebo-Boross. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-21-2-5-7-90. Let's go back to the phones.

We appreciate Mike Stanton and his insights joining us a few minutes ago on the show. Jim and Crosby on 790. Hello, Jim. Hey, I'm a high school umpire, and I just wanted to defend the rule that everyone doesn't like. I think that there's a lot of misconceptions about it. Go ahead. Okay, well, then do it.

If you're going to defend it, go ahead. All right. First of all, the throw from Peacock, you know, this rule comes into play all of the time. It usually comes into play when there's a third strike and it's dropped, and the catcher has to throw the first. Either the catcher's on the foul side or the fair side throwing at the first basement. The throw has to be a true throw. That is, it's not supposed to be a throw that pulls the first baseman off the bag.

Peacock's throw was a true throw because Gurriel could have caught it while being on the bag. But he couldn't catch it because Turner was running in bare territory. And that's the problem. And so he could have stepped on first base with his left foot and still be in foul territory. And Muriel could have caught the ball. And in the district of the empire, Turner prevented Gurian from catching the ball. Remember when, go ahead. I was just going to say real fact is I don't want to spend a whole lot more time on this.

If Turner's on the other side of the line, he's free and clear, correct? And the reason why those two lines are there is what if Turinos, you know, dropped a third strike on Turner and threw up from foul territory. You know, that other line is there so that Turner's not running too far in foul territory to prevent the balls being thrown to Gurriel. Yeah, yeah. it makes complete sense thank you jim for calling the show and lending your expertise yeah ross as long as i've been playing baseball watching

and talking about the radio very rarely does the runner when he's inside the line get the benefit of the doubt and it's just as i said this to mike stanton a few minutes ago the call was correct there are some people that aren't happy with it it just muddied up the game yesterday

and i don't want my game six my world series muddied up over uh whether or not the umpike hires can hear the replay center whether it's challengeable or not it just it was it was a cloud that kind of hung over the game that just wasn't it just it just was an odd time to have that kind of deal and that there was so much uncertainty about the call that was definitely interesting and like you said it was an odd time and then the controversy and then dame martina's just absolutely blowing up over it just a weird situation on something that i think nine times out of 10, that wouldn't have been called at all. And then Rondon hits the ball really, really far.

Really, really far. I mean, Rossi, the home runs they hit yesterday were all tape measure jobs. The Soto home run? Oh, my God. I mean, upper tank. Yeah. Upper tank. That was like Yoron Alvarez, umper tank. He got a hold of that one for sure. Albert and Westbury at 127 on 790, your home of the stroes. Albert, good afternoon. Good afternoon, guys. Hey, I was calling. to ask you all's opinion on how I felt late last night and early this morning about

Justin Burlander's performance. I was telling my girlfriend, Wendy, if the first team to score would more than likely be the team to win, and if Burlander could go at least two innings with holding them down without scoring, even three, that we would win the game. And I can't help but feel disappointed. And I don't know if I have a right to be. I know that his body of work over the course of the season got us to where we are today. And I appreciate that and I respect that.

But I just kind of felt let down by his performance last night. And I just wanted to ask y'all's opinion about that, and I'll hang up and listen. Thank you. We brought that up actually in the first hour, show. Albert, thank you for the phone call. Justin Verlainter has done everything humanly possible to make himself look great and perform well and make you proud and the accolades and the scyung and all the stuff that makes him the future Hall of Famer that he is. I just posed a simple question and I said, why can't Justin do what for the Astros, what Steven Strassberg did

for the nationals yesterday? And you know what the response is, Ross? And by their shoulders saying yeah that makes sense why couldn't he done it why has he been so average as a world series pitcher with two baseball teams over his very distinguished future hall of fame career he just hadn't met himself i mean he's 36 years old he's pitched uh how many innings did he pitch in the regular season over 200 over 200 yeah i yeah my argument and my my my defense wasn't i don't remember ross if you'd agree to disagree i think he's out of gas i think i think the Tank is empty. His very first start in the ALDS was great, borderline, brilliant.

And then from there, it's just been the short rest was bad. And then after that, it hasn't been great since then. Houston Sports Talk for lunch. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. Oh, yeah. This will get people going, Ross. Is it? I'm getting all fine.

fired up. Jay Loggins is not getting you fired up. It's getting me fired up, and it's getting Houston fired up. This is making me think of gophers. Rossi, I need 30 seconds away from this Astro stuff to talk about a burger today that I had. Did you try the Impossible Burger? No. Oh, we're going to do that on a post-show show, right?

Yeah, we're doing a poll. We've got two post-show ideas. We're going to go get a massage on a post-show show, and we're going to try the Impossible Burger. Wonderful. Here's the thing And I don't want y'all to hate me But remember I only speak the gospel Today I lost my virginity

At a various hamburger joint Shake shack Oh okay You never had Shake shack Never Okay And And?

It was just okay I thought it was yeah I wasn't blown away by ShakeShack for sure Fries Significantly below average Even though the crinkle cut The burger The sauce was just

I mean everything was just okay about it. So, I mean, bless them for, you know, doing well at Minutemate Park and having huge lines, but I was just like, that's okay. I thought it was pretty good, but I was, yeah, like, I don't know. Every hamburger, every fast food hamburger has some supplements of deliciousness, right? Or it wouldn't be that's popular. Right.

I mean, trust me, I threw it down my throat. I didn't tell, like, I'm not eating this garbage again. Yeah, you didn't take one bite and just leave it, did you? Yeah, I mean, there's a chance I might do that with the impossible burger because it just sounds gross. I've heard it's pretty good. Really? What is it may have? We got to do a blind taste test.

What we got to do is we have to have three burgers in front of us, and only one of them is going to be the impossible burger, and you have to sniff it out. Okay. Post-show show show? I'm going to do that to you. Are they all going to be from Burger King? Yes.

Flame broiled. Okay. Delicious. Ice cold, refreshing. You know what my favorite jam is these days is the McRib is back. That's very happy. That's disgusting. That's, yeah.

Come on, man. That's a gut mom. Dirty whore mouths is what I'm telling you to do. Disgusting. Yeah, so good they don't keep it all year because they know they can sell them. It's like Mahi-Mahy. It's always a special. 7-1-3-2. There's fishing seasons. There's not pork gristle sheet season. Let me tell you something.

Mahi-Mahy is an animal. McRib is not an animal. McRib is McElishes. It's just a maccinogenic in your stomach. It's a pork patty that's grilled delightfully. Mc cholesterol. all. Me,

full of barbecue sauce, top with onions and pickles on a toasted bun with fries. But that looks for barbecue sauce and your fries, your life is good. Newsflash, pigs don't have patties.

It's not a part of the pig. Okay. I'm just telling you. So the three of us will not go get to make rib next week. My treat. If you're buying, I guess. Yeah,

see. Fraud. Yeah, I'll pass. Yeah, fraud. Why would I pass? I don't pass up a free meal? That's called, I was raised right.

Bill and Sugar, on 790. Hi, Bill. Hi, Matt. Hi, Ross. I just want to let you all know that I thought that a bit with Reverend Ross was one of the best ones I've ever heard in, well, 35 years, 40 years of listening to sports radio.

Well, you know what? I give all the credit to Ross. He's a genius on that segment, my friend, but thank you for calling it and saying that. Wait, I got a little more. Oh, all right. Yeah, if you could play that thing again in the last hour, I think it could put the Astros over the top.

You know what? I don't know if we got a lot of stuff going on. We remember replayed a bit over and over again. We could probably say goodbye. We could have the reverence say goodbye to everybody, right, Ross? You could do that at least, you know? I guess. We'll see.

By the way, a lot of people are asking about the Astros. We had a caller about this earlier wearing orange. Yeah, I've gotten like three tweets about it. People are really concerned about what uniforms they're wearing. Let me tell you something. I'm going to just go on a hunch. Are I okay to have a hunch? Sure. I bet there weren't orange tonight.

Okay, you want my opinion? Yeah. Oh, hold on. What? Nick put my... You were going to use some audio... I'm here to tell you right now. We don't care.

Let me tell you. We don't care. Thank you. That's my opinion. I mean, it really doesn't make any difference. No, it doesn't. It doesn't, but it's going to make some people feel better. Good for them.

Call me, call me. Because I just said, not Russia. There goes the auto play. I didn't do that. There goes in Marconi where we were going to win. Oh, please. Let's go. I've done that once to your 5,000.

Let's go to Gerard on the South. Hi, Gerard. You're on 790. What's going on, man? What you got, friend? Yeah, man. Game 7-night, man. It's a good doubt.

Obviously, I think, man, the first game is going to be key for both pitches, man. I think Matt Schurzerz that he's a guy that gets real amped to both games normally. In his World Series, he's going to be really am tough. So maybe he might be a little, while a little bit in the first day and throwing some pitchers, fastballs up to the Outer's Tracks Zone and stuff like that. David Astros can take advantage

to that situation, man. But it's going to be a good game. Obviously, you've got two good teams matching up, man. It's been a crazy World Series, man. Both teams have won on the road. And, you know, they let you know that home to advantage in baseball is just not the same

as in the NFL or in the NBA, man. You know, Game 7 gives the home team a distinct advantage. But over baseball history, I think game seven has been like for the home team 19 and 20, so obviously home to the bench hasn't really been that much of a back in the series. But don't come down to pitch in the timely hitting. Hopefully we have our guys step up, man, and get this win, man.

And we can say we won two championships in three years, man. That'll put us up there with some of the all-time great teams in baseball history, man. But if we called them short again, we'll just be a team that, you know, you won one. And with a lot of different teams did, and they kind of put us in a group of a whole lot of different teams, man. Hopefully we can get this game tonight, man, and win tonight, man. But the key, I think it's going to be the first inning, man. Hopefully it will be a little bit too a half-up, man.

We can take a band-up in the first inning. Very well said, Nick. Nick, excuse me, Gerard, thank you for the phone call. I appreciate it, my man, and look forward to having you with us on future Rockets broadcast. You know what, Ross is a little sad? Is this the last game tonight? This is the last baseball game. We have been with this team since mid-February,

where I was down in Florida talking to the guys of spring training, and now we are 200 games later. It's been a journey. Somebody's winning a World Series ring and somebody's going to be devastated tonight. Somebody being players, fans, this is a cruel world we live in in sports. This is why we watch, though.

That's why we watch. And by the way, if the Astros win tonight, we go all night long with the 10th inning marathon show, your home of the Astros the station that actually cares about the Astros people who actually

talk about the Astros Sports Talk 790 the people that actually could tell you who the starting lineup was say I don't know four months ago Is there a sound effect for shade? No there's not shade this is the truth I don't do shade in my life

I'm telling you that when you win a World Series, you go to the station that carries the games and talks about the team all night long. And that's us. Do we need more Lionel Richie? Sure. Ross, let me give you my night, okay? This is the trials and tribulations of a major market radio.

Are you ready for this? No. 8 o'clock Eastern time, 7 o'clock Houston. I'm calling Rockets Wizards. the game will be over at approximately 9.15 Houston time. The Astros and the nationals will be in the top of the third by then. Okay? So I'll be able to watch six strong endings on my iPad.

Then we're going to fly to New York City tonight after the game. I'm going to get to my hotel at about 2.15, 2.30, 2.45 somewhere in that range. I'm going to go to sleep for an hour and a half. Then I'm going to get up and I'm going to talk to you all about a World Series championship from 4 to 6 o'clock in the morning. That's what I'm talking about. That's the grinding we're looking for. for from Matthew. That's a grind.

Yes. On your home of the Astros who actually know something about the Astros. Have I made myself clear, Houston, Texas? Yes. I ask everyone in your life, in your business, to stay in your lane. Stay in your lane and keep it on 790, the station that talks about the Astros every day. Period. End of story. I've said my piece. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90.

Houston's official sports cliche translator. I'm working hard. I'm trying to be a good teammate. I'm trying to go out here every day and do my job. Matt Thomas. Taking it one day at a time. Look, I don't want to sit here and talk about me or the umpires or This is not about me or the umpires This is about the Washington National

And those guys in the clubhouse Coming to game six Playing lights out Knowing that this could be it And I'm super proud of them No it sounds funny But I'm leaving you tomorrow Oh a little easy

Like Sunday morning I feel like I need to take a nap Read the newspaper and go get some brunch No there's not a lot of songs about Wednesday Matt Yeah that's what happens when you ask for Lionel Richie. I want it all night long. Yeah, this is the Commodore.

This isn't even really Lionel Richie. It is really Lionel Richie singing. As part of the Commodys. Now I feel like I need to sit up. Get a cup of coffee. This is a jam, though. This is a jam. I'll give you that.

All right, it is game number seven. I'm Matt Thomas here in Washington, D.C. do you know rossie can i peel the curtain back for 20 seconds or so you want to tell an easy listening uh dj voice with us and with the lionel ritchie there for a minute you know what let me see yeah bring that back bring that back as i bring the story matt thomas son sports talk 790 playing today's hits and yesterday's classics ross is i'm peeling the curtain back on the show it is so freaking bizarre that i'm in washington dc

with the Rockets and the Wizards where there will be a crowd of about 6,000 at the Wizards game tonight because all their fans are going to watch the World Series and all of our fans are going to watch in the World Series. And yet, I can go for a glass of wine right now

and a strong hug from a lovely wife of mine. Sounds like you're very easy. Matt, we'll get the weather in 15. Traffic coming up in 10. By the way, what's the weather like back home? It's like 70-degree official. Well, that current temperature's 58 degrees. Going to get down to 40 tonight, a little bit cloudy, maybe a little bit of rain tomorrow, 56 and a sunny on a beautiful Thursday.

Are the Astros going to win the World Series tonight? Call me and tell me. 713-212-5-790. You know we ought to do, Ross? We could do long-distance medications. We could have people call in and give me a song you want me to pull. play to fire people up for the Astros on the final hour of the show. Let's do that.

You ready? Okay. So anybody that wants to call in. You don't have to do it right now. Like, you do it Delilah style? Yeah, like, hey Matt, love your show. Everyone. I'm Delilah. I'm Matt. I'm making tons of money. Yeah. I'm Matt. I've got massive debt with three children.

But I'm staying in a 19-star hotel eating $28 of scrambled eggs in our nation's capital. Tell me a song you want to get yourself fired up for a World Series win. We're confusing a hell out of people. Alex in the woodlands at 152. Alex, good afternoon to you, sir.

Hey, Matt. How you guys doing? Good, buddy. Thank you. Not sure if you guys, you and Ross, have talked about this. But whenever the Asher's were up one, I've seen. or whenever they were down one, I think Matt Scher was going to come in the game

if that kept the score within one, and that would have made a difference today had been, you know, 20, 30 pitches from Scher being used. What do you guys think? No, I think Max Scherzer warming up yesterday was a complete smoke screen. I think they were just doing that just to kind of irritate

everybody and put questions in. There would be no way in the world that Davey Martinez would allow one of the best starting pitchers this decade to go try to throw an inning when they needed him for potential game 7. Ross agree or disagree? Yeah, I don't think he was ever going to pitch. I really don't.

We can get it straight from Dave Martinez's mouth if you like. Oh, yeah. Oh. Max is starting tomorrow. We got him up knowing that, you know, if the game is tied or we were up a run, we might have to use him. He wanted to go down there and just throw and get loose. We score some more runs.

and immediately shut them down. That's a lie. You think so? Lie, lie, lie. If it's a one-run game, thank you, Alex, with a phone call. Were they going to go with Annabelle Sanchez in Game 7 the World Series or Max Scherzer? Right? Help me out here.

I mean, yeah, I think you're right. I don't really believe Dave Martinez. I would feel like it would be a little bit foolish to win. But they also were in Matthew a must-win situation. Now, the only way that I can maybe justify what he just said is if you were to use Serser last night, like he says he was thinking about it, and then use him tonight for an inning or two. Yeah. That would make more sense. You'd seem foolish to burn him, but maybe we are looking from the hindsight 2020 of they got the lead.

And so there was no way. But maybe if they got down, the Astros' bats actually got some, you know, plated some runs. That would have been nice. Maybe they would have used him. Yeah. Can we have Jose Al-Tube not have horrible swings? I mean, I love, like, I literally love Jose Al-Tube. He has everything about a professional athlete that I love and admire and appreciate.

Yeah. But those swings yesterday hurt me. There was one, the one where he struck out and he swung at the, I think it was the curveball, and it just dove so much. The funny part of us, I think he was 0 or 2 and 1-2 or 1-2 in that count. And I said, I trust Jose-L-Tube. He swings and misses it. It was still, I trust Jose.

Trust Jose. And then he swung so badly. I was like, I don't know if I want to trust Jose right now. Well, how about the ground ball? How about not walking El Tuba to get to Bregman? They pitched Al-Tube and he hits that ground ball where it was at the second base, couldn't get the runners over? I mean, that was another painful one.

Yeah. Rossi picked a click. You can you even possibly think of a person at this point? I will go with Jose or Yulee actually. I think those are the two hitters in the lineup that I trust most. When you're going up against the toughest of the top, the top, right? Max Scherzer's and the Steven Strasbergs and the like. You need guys who will go out there and not hunt pitches and not necessarily just sit fastball

and try to blast it over the fences like a George Springer will do or Carlos Correa will do. You need guys who can make contact with anything. If it's in the dirt, if it's like Vlad Guerrero style, if it's a bouncer, I can still hit it and still make a play. like we're playing cricket, and I trust Yulie and Jose to do that. So against tougher pitching matchups, I like both of those guys. That's sage advice right there from Rossville, Real. I'm Matt Thomas here in our nation's capital. We'll go on the Astros beat for a few minutes at the top of next hour.

Then everybody on hold will get to you. 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. Is the Matt Thomas show. It's our final appearance of this season, at least the season of baseball, with Jake Kaplan, our good friend from The Athletic. Jake is on Twitter at 8. Jake M. Kaplan. His articles are fantastic on the athletic. Jake, let's get right to it. How do you envision tonight going? Have you played out various scenarios in your mind? And can you give me two or three for the audience to kind of see what you're in, hear what you're thinking right now?

Yeah, you know, it's going to be fascinating. You know, in my mind, going into it, it's really a coin-slip game. And so much is going to depend on both starting pitchers. You know, Max Scher, obviously, Max Scherzer is better than Zach Granky. But, you know, which Max Scherzer is going to show up? Is he healthy? Is he going to go deep into a game? Is Granky going to be the guy who got six-innings of three runs against the Yankees?

Or the guy four-and-two-thirds of one run against Nationals? or is he going to be their guy they saw against the race? So I think, you know, I wouldn't expect either start of the pitch deep, given all those factors. So it could be a game of a lot of picking changes and a lot of starters and relief. And, you know, it should be a fun one. We have seen the Astros, unfortunately, be very inconsistent with their bats throughout the month of October, regardless of opponent.

We are seeing a change in the nationals and how aggressive they are and how successful they are in Houston as compared to what you saw in Washington. Do you have any idea why that is? Yeah, I don't. You know, they do seem pretty comfortable hitting in Houston. Obviously, Houston's, it's fluctuated over the years, but this year it was definitely a hitter's part, so that could play into it.

But, yeah, as to why exactly, I'm not, you know, really sure. It's been interesting. You know, the Astros hit well at both places, and obviously they won 60 games at home. So, you know, But they were fine on the road, too. So it's tough to figure out. Jay Capel with us from The Athletic here on Sports Talk 790.

And you had a chance to talk to Zach. You just can't read anything to what he says because his comments are so brief. Just give us anything that you could notice about the tenor of the clubhouse. It felt like, and again, I'm a thousand miles away from you here in D.C., but everything that I saw, at least video-wise, it was a pretty upbeat clubhouse, despite the disappointing loss. Is that fair to say? Or was that just a good act by a bunch of very nervous baseball players right now?

Yeah, it's tough to tell. Honestly, the whole playoffs, win or lose, it kind of feels similar every time. You know, it doesn't feel all that different from the regular season, which is strange to say. But, like, I don't know. It might just be a product of most of these players have been deep in the playoffs three years in a row now. They're pretty good at keeping an even keel.

And whether that helps or not, I don't know. I don't think it hurts. But ultimately, you know, tone of the clubhouse, whatever, it doesn't really, you know, the night before, especially it doesn't really matter for the next day. Tonight's game is going to come down to who executes the most pitches and doesn't miss the mistake pitches. Granky, like you said, his comments are brief. You said it's going to be a big game. So that's about the most insight you're going to get there. Yeah.

Let me give you – I just love throwing a guessing game, That trick. Give me the first two relievers that go to the mound after cranky tonight. Who's batting? Oh, you had to give me those. Let's give me the Heart of the Order. Heart of the Washington, 456. Heart of the Washington order. What inning is it?

Sixth. Little Harris. It seems like that's been his sweet spot, the whole series. Anytime he comes in, it's either for Turner, Eaton, Rendon, or eaten Rendon Soto or some combination of those. So I would say him, and, you know, that's really how they have to map it out. Who do they want facing those best hitters of the Nationals? You know, if you figure one or two of those turns, goes to that Grinke, one of those terms, goes to Will Harris. Does Garrett Cole get the fourth one? Is there a fifth one?

Yeah, that's what I guess the angle I was going with is at one point could you see Jose Orkid and or Garrett Cole. And I talked about this with Mike Stanton last hour. He's in agreement with me. I know that A.J. would love to have Garrett if he's going to throw to do it in a clean inning. But there's a chance that if you're going to Garrett Cole, it's because there's a lot of trouble on the base paths. There's a lot of traffic. Yeah, it's, you know, it's tough to forecast because Garrett Cole, number one, he's never pitched the relief in his major league career. Number two, he's never pitched on short rest.

So he's on two days' rest. What can he actually give? No one knows, except for him. So, you know, I think with every starter coming in relief, you want to give him a clean inning. But like you said, you know, you can't always do that in this situation when the season's on the line, you know, game seven of the low series. So, you know, I think that if there is traffic on the basis,

that has been also. Will Harris is forte. So maybe you go there, maybe you go, you know, he's gone to Josh James a couple times. But, yeah, it's going to be, that's the most interesting thing is how much can Cole give them? Because if you think back to 2017, Charlie Morton was on three days' rest. That's a big difference for two days' rest.

Morton went four innings, obviously. But, you know, can Cole give two innings? Can he go a whole time through the lineup? I think that's really the wild card on the Astros. side for this game. All right. I think the easy narrative, if they win tonight, Jake, is you fought in scratch and clawed for home field advantage in game seven.

You got it for a reason. They win it because 43,000 people have your back, and you finally break through and put up a huge, huge number, maybe, you know, seven, eight runs in home. If the team falls tonight is the legacy of damn awesome series, seven games, nationals are good, or this team, and in particular, Justin Verlander, were just two schizophrenic in the final two series of the season. You know, I'm not sure if I agree with the first or second narrative there. You know how I feel that home children's been talking about in September.

And I think my point has maybe been, I've got a, you know, been supported in this series. But, yeah, I mean, it depends on if they lose how they lose, you know. if Frankie gives a bunch of runs, I think that would be the, you know, the big story. If they lose late, you know, who knows? The pay really depends. It's hard to predict what narratives are going to be out there before game even played. If they win, I think it's going to be that they won the World Series.

You know, they did what they were, you know, everyone expected them to do. You know, I don't think if you said at the beginning of the playoffs, the Astros are going to win the World Series, I don't think anyone in baseball would be surprised. Maybe how they got there would be the surprise getting pushed to the brink against the race and the nationals. But, yeah, like I said, it's, you know, narratives will see what happens. That's why they play the game. Do you care to make a guess as I wrap things up with you? You know, I have no idea.

I thought the Astros win last night and I was way off. So I really do think of the coin flip tonight, and I could see it going out of way. I think what that does – I think this going to a game seven makes it a coin flip, right? you would have, I don't know if you and I would have spoken yesterday, I think you probably would have felt a lot more confident about making a prediction, but I think if you're the nationals, you're like, you know what, we got this to a game seven. Look what we've been. We came here after looking horrible at home and got our mojo back in the heart of the order doing it.

And we had a delay. We had our manager get tossed and this and this and this and this. Oh, by the way, Justin Verlander was still looking for his first major league or first World Series win. He was supposed to get it on the home field with 43,000 people. I mean, I would say, and look, the Astros again can act all the way they want to, but both clubhouses are going to be nervous. But if you're in Washington, you're like, man, we've got a real good chance of this. And that's why I think there are some Astro fans bumping around, listen to us right now.

We watch more nervous today than they were, say, 24 hours ago. Yeah, I mean, I think that's human nature, right? Like everyone is, everyone who has a stake in this is probably nervous. Game set on a little series, man. That's the end of the road. It's, you know, a huge difference between winning and losing just for the whole offseason. I mean, if you think about the 2017, the Dodgers losing game seven, and they haven't won it since. You know, you never know if you're going to get back there.

So, yeah, it's, this is, it's going to be fascinating. I mean, it hasn't been, you know, from a game to game standpoint, like, in terms of pure baseball, it hasn't been a very exciting series. But last night's game was probably the best game. so far in terms of like drama but you know maybe maybe they're saving it off for game seven tonight I like that approach Jake thank you for the visits as always during the course of the year how about you and I visit again maybe before the winter meetings after you take a long winter's break how about that sounds like a plan thanks Jake appreciate it my friend Jake

Kaplan on the Astros beat with us all year long here on sports talk 790 it's you and me the rest of the way we are expected to be joined by Matthew McConaughey on a mobile You're saying, why would he want to call the show today? Well, Matthew McConaughey is going to scream play ball before the first pitch. It was supposed to be to Sean Watson, but he has begged out because of a minor eye irritation. Apparently, it's not going to affect him Sunday in London for the Texans game against the Jaguars, but he's just going to get some extra recuperation time and therapy, whatever, to make sure that eye is ready to go.

So with that being said, Matthew McConaughey gets the call, and we'll see if we can get a hold of him on a mobile. Our time is 212, but is the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 790 from Washington, D.C. Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson here. You're listening to the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Good motivation here, Ross, it's 218. Grinky said knock you out. He did?

Do you we're going with? I don't think I've ever heard Zach say knock you out ever. I don't think I've heard Zach say more anything, but it's good. It's great. I look forward to it. I'm nervous. I'm excited. Well, the song is Mama said knock you out.

So we're going with Grinkie said knock you out, Matt. Name the artist, Matt. There's no chance. Come on. Now you do, you mean, give me multiple choice. And I'll wait for a second. You can't have a multiple choice.

Yeah. L.O. Cool J. Public enemy. Or. Nas. I'll go public enemy. That's L.O. Cool. J.

Damn. I think it's the song that Zach Ranking should walk out to tonight about 708 central time. I think that'd be pretty badass, but I don't think so. Okay. 713-212-5-790. Matthew McCona-Mobile, if you're out there on your way around town, because I know you're in town to do play ball tonight. Come on and join the show.

Let's go to, in terms of longest wait, Josiah and Beaumont at 219. Josiah, what do you have today? Oh, man, guys, I'm just a little upset about the result. from last night, but it is good to have you have you back on today, Matt. I feel like maybe not having you. Ross may have jinx us last night, to be honest with you. Nah, he did. He did a great job.

No, no, yeah, he did. I enjoyed listening. But I just think last night, man, Stephen Strausberg just came in, and outside of a few pitches in that first inning, he was nailed the whole game. The Astros couldn't do nothing with him. I feel like, you know, you can nitpick here and say, oh, they should have tried to work the count. It seemed like they were swinging at the first pitch.

that was always, any dominant pitcher like that is on, man. It's just the best lineup in baseball can look like the Astros did last night, and that's what happened. I just hope. I just hope Scher isn't on one of his Mad Max rants tonight and just comes in and moses down. If that happens, you know, it's not going to be pretty.

But the difference in this series so far at home for the Astros is their clutch hitting, you know, they haven't gotten one all series at home. That's going to be the difference. they come through, they get a clutch hit with runners on, that's going to win the ball game. I'd say whoever scores first wins, let's take this home, we can do it, let's go strove. Big game seven win tonight. Let's get it done. All right, thank you for the phone call. I will say this to Jay Kaplan's point a little while ago, Ross, that if the Astros lose

this game, I never want to hear about home field advantage ever again because we'll never have had one in this World Series. Being at home was a detriment. I wouldn't say it was a detriment. I mean, it just doesn't matter much. I mean, Jake has been making that point all year. Are we taking a slow ride? Yes, we are.

Take me easy. No, we've talked about it. It doesn't matter as much as it does in basketball or football for whatever reason. Yeah. Maybe it's the nature of the sport. Maybe it's, I mean, whatever you want to point to, because basically it's crux, right, baseball is just pitcher versus batter. So if the pitcher's not flustered, it doesn't matter. If you have these guys like Steven Strassberg doesn't seem a whole lot intimidated by that Minamate crowd,

last night, did he? No, not at all, especially after he stopped tipping pitches, apparently. Joining us now is actor, director, noted Longhorn fan, and a good baseball enthusiast from one understanding. Is he? I mean, was he in an Astros game in New York a few years back or something? Didn't he make Julian Morales blush at one point? Oh, did he?

I was saying. And because Deshaunne Watson is unable to say play ball before. tonight's game. Major League Baseball said, hey, why don't we see if Matthew McConaughey would like to do so? And Matthew McConaughey on a mobile is joining us here on the Matt Thomas show. Mr. McConaughey, are you excited about the big announcement you'll be making a litter on this evening? Well, first of all, I need to clarify something. I was having a great conversation with Julian Morales about fanny packs. You got to go. Hey, I got to ask you, do you still not wear deodorant?

I just depends on what day of the week it is. I might do it tonight. It's pretty fancy get-together you got down here in Houston, and I might just have to musk up, if you know what I mean. Matthew McConaughey, a mobile joining us here on the Matt Thomas show. Matthew, may I call you, Matthew? When did you get the word for Major League Baseball? They needed you tonight.

They called me late last night. They got word from the Texans, and obviously Deshawn Watson is a wonderful quarterback. He's not Longhorn, but he is a guy that is a signal caller. that is well respected in the college game, in the pro game. And he's got something funky going on with that eye of his. And so I was here to answer the bell.

I've got no problem doing that. I think it's going to be the good luck charm to get the Astros right over the top. And I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends, and especially my lady friends down there in the age. Have you considered yourself to be a good luck charm for the Texas Longhorns this year? Well, that's a little bit more complicated. Matt, and that's not something I necessarily want to get into because I'm an official ambassador. I've got to watch what I say.

You know, I can't just go into details about the inner workings of a school that, frankly, you'd never sniff neither now or before or any time whatsoever. I know Ross would, but not necessarily you. Matthew McConaughey, I could have gotten to the University of Texas had I tried, but I decided I wanted to go to the Harvard of Southeast Texas. Matthew, why don't you run through a few different options of saying play ball here tonight on our show, and then we can kind of decide which one you should use when you are given the microphone later on tonight. I'm glad you asked that because first of all, I need to ask your opinion. I mean, you're a guy that knows the city. You live here, you work here, you breathe here.

Do you think that they would want upbeat Maddie or more of like low-key Maddie? because it's going to be, I can give you a couple options here. You want to hear them? Yeah, we'd like to hear three or four, if you don't mind. Here is a really excited, really pumped up Matthew McConaughey, same play ball. Ready? Ready. Okay.

And that's a excited one. I mean, I don't want to, I don't want to kind of, like, you know, knock you guys off the air. Correct. Correct. Yeah, understandable, sure. A little bit more low-key one. Ready? Okay, here we go.

Now, here's one that's like. kind of in between. It's like I care because I'm getting paid, but I'm not like infested emotionally, so I'm kind of right in the middle there. Here it is. Ready? Yeah. Which one should I do? Can I give you one more? And then I want you to try it. Sure. Because you've got a catchphrase. What is your number one catchphrase that people know you by? All right, all right.

So why don't you add that to the end of play ball? Let's see how it sounds. I don't want you to miss it. Okay. what do you think? Is that pretty good? I'm actually, Matthew, I'm actually speechless. I was not prepared for that. It sounds a lot better coming out of your mouth than it does mine.

Ross, which one's your favorite of the three? I think the first one, high-key, energy. I think that's what you've got to bring on a game seven, Matthew. It takes a longhorn to distinguish which one's the best from all the rest. Were you sitting for the night? I got a 230 massage. I really got to get going right now. I've got to pick up my coffee.

I've got a lot to do. I'm very busy. Were you sitting for the tonight's game? That's classified. I can tell you, but I'd have to kill you. Matthew, one more time for the audience. Which play ball are you going to use and say it one more time so we can kind of get a little teaser right now? Do it one more time.

All right, here it is. Game seven, do or die. Winter take all. I got to start the game. I'm saying play ball. Matthew McConaughey on a mobile. Exclusively on Sports Talk 790. Rossi, I'm fired up.

Are you? Oh, yeah. Well, that's good. That makes one of us. It's not often that a major, major movie star calls the radio show to give us a little teaser of what he's going to say tonight in front of 43,000 people at Midway.

How about him taking shots at your academics, Matthew? Well, he doesn't really know me. I think Nick would have probably whispered a few things in his ear before I came out of the show. you know it's it i understand the jealousy of not being a part of a tier one institution uh ut's tier one i actually didn't tell him anything about you matt but i did ask him if you know we were sure that ben affleck wasn't available why ben affleck well i mean they're both in that one famous texas that wasn't really made in texas oh dazed and confused

yeah where his catchphrase comes from what was something you know You know what? What is your favorite, Matthew McConaughey movie? I gotta lose a guy in 10 days. I still liked it. Was it a time to kill with Ashley Judd? Oh.

Okay. I have some sound bites from that one. Hmm. She was so hot in that movie. God, whatever happened to Ashley Judd. I'm a ghost of girlfriend's past kind of guy. Okay.

Okay, fair enough. Yes, they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in hell. Thank you. Wait for the show to go on a completely different direction. That's why a pro-nick-low is who he is, the pro. No fear, no worries, and no hair. It's the Matt Thomas way.

Houston Sports Talk continues with the Matt Thomas show. McCona Hanna Mobile for joining us on his way in from Austin. Shout out to my friend Rebecca, who's listened to us as well, on her way in from Austin as well. All over the states come to the game tonight. You see the Dallas TV ratings, Ross, for the World Series are amazing. Are they? That's the only good news I've heard about ratings. Houston, Washington, and Dallas.

Everybody else, the country doesn't care. Yeah. I don't care either. I think coming into last night, it was on pace to be the lowest world, raid the World Series, like ever. How concerned are you that Kansas City's not watching the World Series? Don't care. 1-3-212-5-7-90.

If Las Vegas isn't watching, is it making your life miserable? 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. You do have a lot of stars on both these teams, but there's not a heritage brand. But also, the games haven't been great. Matt has to. No, no, no, no. There just hasn't been like a back-and-forth fun type of game. Very few on the edge of your seat moments.

Now, for just the neutral guy, we're on the edge of our seat with every pitch because we're a vested interest. But the average person is like, you know what? Is tonight's Thursday night football game going to be better this week? You know what I mean, that's just what it is. Because here is the truth. Rossi, I checked out of the Dodgers Red Sox last year. I just did. Yeah, same.

Yeah, that's totally normal. That's why I've never gone like, why isn't America watching this? You know what? I don't care for America's watching it. I'm watching it. You guys are watching it. We're talking about it. A lot of phone calls to get to short time.

Michael in Chicago on 790. Michael, good afternoon. Good afternoon. How are you guys? Good. All right. So I predict if Granky does not give up a run in the first inning and Carl's Correa hits, I think,

the Astros win. So you're guaranteeing an Astros win if there's a goose egg up in the first inning? That's it? No, I'm not guaranteeing just on first inning, but overall, that's an important one. So he doesn't get up a run in the first inning. Okay. You know what? I don't know how this is going.

Ross, thank you for the phone call, by the way, Michael. Ross, I don't know what this game is in my mind right now. Usually I have these ways of just drawing up scenarios. I don't know how this is going to go. I don't know if Max Scherz is going to go out there and feel his neck hurt five pitches into the game, or he's going to toss six innings of one run ball with three hits. I have zero feel for this. I mean, I usually play the game out of my mind, right?

Before, I think that's natural, and you probably don't want to hear how I have it playing out of my mind. All right. Ross is going to tell you how it plays out. If you don't want to hear it, turn your radio down for, like, 15. seconds. I just get this feeling. Max Scherzer in this narrative of the injury and coming back and he's such a gamer and he's, he gets up and lives for these moments. He's going to come out. He's going to throw six plus strong. Zach Grinky is going to be good but not great. And then the bullpen, I mean, Will Harris gave up a home run. I mean, if Josh James goes out there, I don't have a lot of confidence in them. Grinky gives up a couple. Bullpen gives up a couple. Astros lose like six to two. That's my gut feeling right now. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

But I also said the Astros are going to win 62 yesterday. I've been hitting the gut. Line 4. C-Note. Welcome to Astros lose game 7 of the World Series on 790. Hi, C-Node. Hey, man. This is for all those Fairweather fans and the bandwagon fans

that just look at games when the playoffs and the World Series comes. I'm a regular old-season guy. Go back far. What the Astros again? The key to this game tonight, yeah, Grinky got to get off to a good start. But I'm going to tell you, the secret weapon is Arciti. The guy through 67 pitches in game four, zero runs. Arciti is the secret weapon for the night.

Ain't nobody even said that about this guy because we star-studied with all the stars. Arcidi will beat a man. I'm telling him that's our secret weapon. You have a nice day. What do you think about Arquidi, Matt? Arcidi. Is he related to R. Kelly? I don't think so.

That's two different families, I think. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you a question. Juan Arquidi, can he help the Astros win game seven of the World Series tonight? How many hits will Jordan Alvado get tonight? for the local nine. Juan Arkiti. Daniel, Texas City on 790 at 239.

Daniel, good afternoon. What's going on, guys. Ross, man, that's brutal, man. Brutal, man. Bruno, Daniel, I understand it's brutal, but I have to be out here and come on the radio and be honest and tell you what's going through my mind, and unfortunately that's what's going through my mind.

I don't mean to go a joker on you, but all I have are negative thoughts about this game tonight. Damn. I completely understand. I know it feels that way, but it's completely the trend has just continued the whole series. We played horrible at home. Brilliant on the road.

And when we were on the road, we didn't face Strauss or Scherzer. So, I mean, I'll tell you, but I think it's going to go completely opposite. We're going to come. I'm not swinging, and they're going to, and I think surgery is going to hang it, we're going to bang it.

Now, also, I'm on the Matthew McConaughey, play ball, I got a little, you know, I know you're saying about a little phrase. How about this? How about he says it? Play ball, play ball, play ball, play ball. Hey, all right, now, I said, we'll think about that. I ain't up listening. Play ball, play ball, play ball. What do you think about that?

Play ball. I can't even do imagine. Yeah, I know. Me either. But I feel like everybody thinks they can. Yeah. Everybody tries, but it's very difficult. Go ahead.

Play ball, play ball. You sound like an occasion chef. I sound like I should be cooking up some Popeye's chicken sandwich and play ball. Get their rule going now, baby. And rue. Where's Gordy? He could give us a Matthew McConaughey. That was a show.

I swear I love this show. so much. Could you imagine talking boring-ass crap for 12 months so you're not having any fun doing a radio show? No. I would never do that. That's why we do the show. Let's go to our buddy Brian on 7-9 at 241. Brian, how are you? Hey, how are you doing, Matt? Good. Hey, look, man. Brian, where are you? Hey, Brian, Brian, where are you? Brian, where are you? I'm here.

Are you who you talking? Hey look Are you a drive-through Brian Brian you're gonna drive-through right now Yeah I'm here You hear me Oh my gosh I think Brian's drunk

I really do Thank you Brian for the phone call What is that Here we go everybody Here come the Astros Burn a good fire Here come the Astros Bring it all in spite

Here come the Astros It's been it on that line I was a good singer in high school. You know that, right? Yeah, you were like a 19-time Lutterman. 19-time Lutterman at Bay Creek High School Class of 90. I felt terrible then. I was doing a Rockets game,

and an old friend of mine from high school came up, and I had no idea who it was. I'm like, you know what? All these concussions that got in the NFL have finally started to get me. I realized that what didn't play any NFL. Don't you hate that? You go to high school with somebody?

and they're like, remember me? We were graduated together, and I'm like, no, I don't. No, that doesn't happen to me because I'm not nearly as famous as Matt Thomas. And then he says his name, and I'm like, oh, God, I know who you are. The struggles. 7-1-3-21-2. You know what, we'll take, we'll give, believe it or not, a rest today because we've got so many people that want to talk. You okay with that roster?

Do you want to save it? Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, I mean, I kind of wrote it, but. We'll save it for tomorrow. Okay. Because let me tell you something. I don't want to take three hours of Astro lose calls. They lose.

Oh, you know what? We can keep it in our back pocket for tomorrow for when we want a spring, believe it or not, on people. That way the prize wars don't all call in. That's right. Yeah, we will do a surprise, believe it or not, in the middle of the show tomorrow to see who's actually listening as compared to just being prize pigs at 252. All right, everybody on hold.

We'll get to you guys in a minute. 243 in the Matt Thomas show, Sports Talk, 790. The most awkward nooner you'll ever be a part of. This is the Matt Thomas show. You getting hype, Matt? Before we get hyped, I have to do one little thing. We have a good friend of mine who's shower name nameless was listening to our show, and he's a good friend. And he was in a massive panic mode because he thought we were calling Jose Orquite Juan Arcetti.

and we were goofing on the caller. We were not trying to intentionally. We were not mispronouncing his name because we didn't know what he was. So to that friend of mine listening out there, Jose Urquite, we know exactly who he is. John McLean? It was not John McLean. Jim Nance? No, Jim Nance is busy with the NFL.

Joe Buck? Joe Buck and I have only, I've interviewed Joe Buck once in my entire life. It was Smoltsy, wasn't it? He's listening? No, no. It was somebody that famous, but it was somebody in media. Okay, yeah, Harold Reynolds. No, it was not, you can guess all day long.

I'm not going to tell you who it was. Marve Albert. Marvin, no. Mark's busy with the NBA. Marvin Zindler. Oh, wait, he's dead. No, he's dead. Dick Inberg.

What it does is, it's a classic example of when people catch shows during all minutes of the day, and they don't understand that we were one our, our Katie, and Jose Orkini are two different people. just like when I put my Jordan Alvado tweets out I literally get the who is that and it's Yorna Alvarez Matt be better we tease on the show constantly we make mistakes we all do right Ross exactly 713212 5790

let's run through very quickly these phone calls where we get to the A team which they're over at home plate Ross what is the acuweather sports talk 790 forecast Oh, I don't know. What's it like right now? I'm basically in a meeting room here in Washington. I have no idea what the weather's like. So what's it back home?

I need like, okay, fine. You want some weather music? Yeah, give me some weather music. Yeah, give me some weather. All right, man. It's a nice 58 degrees coming up tonight for first pitch. It's going to be 56 and clear. So it should be nice for the folks out there.

Go Stroes. You always put the coach. Stroze in. Today, there was an explosion in Laporte where the entire city had to be evacuated. Go Stroze. 56 families evicted out of their building in Section 8 housing. Unfortunate news there. Go Stroes.

Enron had to go under because of bad business practices. Go Stroze. Huh? major collapse of the stock market today the dashdak is down the dal jones down 6,000 points unfortunate stuff it's an absolute bloodbath out there folks go stroves 610 the entire loop all of it closed down due to construction have a great weekend and go stroze all right back to the phone let me me meet her point larry and galveston at 251 hi larry larry talk to me okay don't talk to me Well, it's just the colors should have been fantastic this hour.

Well, we're just trying to get many people in. You're not going to always bat a thousand, Ross. You just want to get a base hit once in a while. Eric and Jersey Village on 790. Hello, Eric. Hey, can you hear me? No. No, okay.

Well, this is Eric, Jersey Village, Langham Creek, Class 99. I want to tell you all one thing. Tell it. Okay, go ahead. Why not? Yeah, sure. Okay. There's a factor that you aren't factoring in, man. These guys have the best record.

They've ever had franchise history for the Astros. These guys believe in themselves. This town believes in themselves. And last time we had that kind of thing, it was, you know, Houston versus the Knicks for our first championship. So these guys believe in themselves, and they're not going to quit. They're not going to give up. They're not going to give up there. They're going to swing the bats and they're going to pitch.

And they believe in themselves as a team. And that's what's going to make the difference. and that's why they are where they're at right now. Well, all that may be true, but what you all just said doesn't have any to do with wins and losses either. I mean, they were very confident about themselves yesterday. They worked hard, they played hard, they played the right way, and they still lost.

All the things you just said, Eric, are true, but none of that guarantees victory. Rossi, it's about execution tonight. It's about Zach Granky trying to... Remember what Zach Granky, how he did the last time? he was constantly pitching in trouble. There was constant traffic on the base pass. That can't happen tonight.

He needs a couple of clean innings. I'm not asking for five of them, but two or three would be the worst thing in the world. I would, yeah. I mean, look, last time he came out, he went out, and what do you do? Four and a third, and he didn't give up a run, right?

I don't have the box in front of me, but that sounds close. So, I mean, it's possible. I'm starting to talk myself in. I was just in such a rut, Matt, because I really thought they were going to do it last night. You know, we need a little we will rock you to get you in a better mood to close the show. Okay. We're going to play that to close the show up.

Get everybody in a fired up mood. Steve and Inwood Forest at 253 on 790. Hi, Steve. Hey, guys, look, so I got to tell you, my stomach is in nuts. I don't know about y'all sitting in the studio right now, but it is. It's just nerve-wracking. You know, real quick, something I've been thinking about the past few games, and I want to do some deep thought. Has it ever happened in the history of baseball to bring in a,

pitcher from a starting rotation into a game as a save or a reliever. Has it ever happened? Yeah. So, how crazy would it be to potentially bring in coal? Even it took for one or two batters to get

just some sort of headings and mind getting going on, you know? You don't like it, do you? You don't like it. Steve, Steve, how long have we been friend, Steve? 30 seconds. Steve.

We've been talking about this for like four days now. Sorry. I've been out of contact working. Sorry, man. Steve, you know I love you, right? Steve. I think you hurt his feelings, Matt. I don't want to hurt his feelings.

I love Steve. Shout out to Inwood Forest, though. I used to play back at the Inwood's dad club back in the day. Is that still a good part of town? I don't know that it was great when I was playing there. I mean, Steve, I don't you're listening. I just get down at the IDC.

Yeah, of course, Scarlett Cole's ready to go tonight. But we've been talking about that for the last handful of days. We've seen Madison Bob Garner come into games. He helped him, he helped them the Giants won the World Series. He's like, I don't know how to relieve. Oh, I don't know.

Didn't Charlie Morton coming and do some damage too? I mean, it didn't happen that long ago, right, Ross? Two years ago Two years ago Steve I love you You know that But yeah We've been talking about that

But thanks for listening So you're going to listen That's why if you continue to listen To the Texan secondary issues Right now during the World Series You're not going to be informed We were here talking about this Right Ross

We've been on top of this all the way through Yes I think we both said Or the first hour Do we think we are going to see Garrett Cole tonight we both think yes. All right, here's one new.

I'm going to talk about the Shell Federal Credit Union, and then we're going to play some music. We will rock you, get people fired up for tonight's game. Is that fair? Yes. Let me remind you about the Shell Federal Credit Union, and then we're going to just play like a minute of this to get everybody fired up.

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Remember, auto rates as low as 1.99% APR for new and use vehicles. If you live, work, conduct business, go to school, go to church in Harris County. You, my friends, can join the Shell Federal Credit Union. Remember, all the details, shellfcccuh.org, because with Shell Federal Credit, Credit Union, together we're family. Hit it. Ladies and gentlemen, Zach Ranky on the mound. Carlos Correa not swinging and missing.

Getting a couple of hits. Bricky goes deep. Gurriel with two more hits. A great defensive playing center filled by George Springer. Josh Reddick legs one out in the infield single. And Garrett Cole comes in and gives you two-in-ing-ing-ing-off. out of the bully as the Astros won the World Series. Are you feeling it?

Yes, good. I'm ready. Are you ready, Houston? More of this. Adam and Adam. They are the A team and they're next on 790. Talk to you all on Rockets Radio tonight, and tomorrow morning I'll be live at 4 a.m.

If, and I'll go ahead and say it, when the Astros won the World Series. Talk to you all in the late night. You're an old man, race somebody.