The Houston Astros were embarrassed for second game in series versus the Orioles

The Houston Astros were embarrassed for second game in series versus the Orioles

The sky is falling. The season’s over. The Astros have sold the team and are moving to Hawaii. Well, that’s what you would think if you checked out our chat before the show. Let’s talk about it right now. Yel Diaz. This is Locked On Astros. Hello and welcome to Locked On Astros, your daily Astros podcast. Here are your hosts, Eric the Man Heisman and Brett Htown Wheelhouse Chansy. We are Lockdown Houston Astros. We hope that you join us for a daily lockdown Astros podcast. My name is Eric Heisman. He is Brett Chansy. We are the Lockdown Astros podcast. Thank you for making us your first listen on Apple Odyssey, Spotify. Wherever you listen to your podcast, go and check us out. Thank you for becoming every day or somebody who listens to our podcast every day no matter lose or an embarrassment like this series was basically except for the Saturday g Saturday game. Uh so guys thank you for all the everydayers out there. Go and subscribe to us. Go and make us your first listen Apple Odyssey Spotify wherever you listen your podcast. Go ahead and check us out. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season’s right around the corner. Visit FanDuel app today and start planning your future bets right now. So Brett, we got a lot to talk about. I know there’s too too embarrassing. Eric, you need to properly address me. You will now refer to me as Astros go. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. All right. So, I know that this weekend the Astros got shut out twice by a very bad Orioles team. uh a team that should have been good this year, but the Orioles are not a good team. So, what’s going on with the offense? Are we gonna blame the pitching? Is it the bullpen? What’s going on with the Houston Astros? We’ll go and talk about that. Christian Javier, he exits the game early today. Should we be concerned? We’ll go and discuss that also. And I know you kind of mentioned it yesterday, but Yordon Alvarez, he’s going to go and begin a rehab stint with the the Corpus Christie Hooks. And also we know a little bit more about Josh her and uh not necessarily the injury but also what he had to say about the timeline not just of when he can come back but how long it’ll take him to start pitching and when he can likely come back. But guys uh yes Brett this was a very stressful series. It was a very weird series. And the Astros, I’ll turn it to you in a second, but the Astros are where they are. The reason why at the trade deadline, I gave them the B+, it wasn’t because I thought they did a great job, they did a great job at getting the offense they needed, but the reason I did not give them a great rating was because they did not upgrade the pitching staff. And I think we’re starting to see that because you can never count on a team to not suffer any more injuries. Yeah. I mean, look, you know, the injury riddled season has definitely taken its toll on the Houston Astros. And I mean, they’re still an incredibly good team at home, but the negative run differential has come into play. And lately, they haven’t been great. This half has not been a great half of baseball. And I know I’m the always positive, always stros guy and I take it on the chin daily for people who think I’m too positive, but then when I’m when I don’t give praise to certain things, I’m too negative. So, I can’t sit here for the 30 minutes trying to please everybody who watches the show, but I can thank y’all for being listeners because what makes Astros baseball great is we don’t all have to think alike, but we also don’t have to do it in a demeaning way. The Houston Astros were shut out again by the Orioles and it was an embarrassing loss. I mean, this was a blowout loss. I even had a friend, I’m in a group chat for my Wheelhouse Media group and he said, “This is one of those games where you really wonder, should Major League Baseball consider a run rule on the day that you have a getaway game in 10 straight games?” I mean, they got absolutely obliterated. And I promise you, there’s no one that’s more upset or more conf more confound by what’s going on than the players in the clubhouse. Um, but they’re also not fanatics like you and I. So, they’re also not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. They’re not going to sell the team and move to Hawaii. You know, I did use the phrase just watch it. I’m kind of playing off of some of y’all’s negativity in here because I’ve got to deflect that negative because I know the glaring sores and I know the glaring bruises that are on this team. And the pictures we’re throwing out there, it’s who we have. We don’t have anybody else. And no, Ryan Gusto being here instead of Sanchez wouldn’t make a difference either. So, I mean, we can sit here and shout at the mountain tops or as Sully would say, shout at the tides. It’s not going to make any difference. The bottom line is Dean Krimmer has your number. Every time he’s pitched against the Astros, he’s pitched really well. So, in a season where the offense is inconsistent, this is a result you would expect. The adverse of that is you wouldn’t expect two blowouts versus a team that is not playing good baseball for much of the season, but the Orioles have been hot lately. Yeah. And it’s just crazy the fact that the Astros and the this home stand they are three and three. They’ve been outscored 44-7. Just think about that. 44 to 17 in the three losses in this series in this home stand. They outscored 33-1. So they either beat the teams by only a few runs or they go ahead and get annihilated. You had what the 14 to1 loss to the Red Sox. You had the seven to nothing loss against Orioles almost a perfect game that Urias almost that broke up on uh Friday and then you had the 12 to nothing shellacking today and it it it’s just frustrating how this team can look so good in certain games. The pitching’s there just enough offense to get the job done. But then in this game you have Christian Javier. We’ll talk about that in a little bit. He starts today’s game. You have Jesus. I just imagine Jesus Sanchez was out there. This should have been a 19 to nothing game, honestly. But he saved a grand slam. He also saved a three-run homer uh just by making catches at the wall. So, if there’s anything positive, I guess I have two things positive from this game. the fact that he made those catches and Chaz McCormick was the only reliever out there that actually had one, two, three inning at least. Right. Right. No, no. Exactly. But I I do have to press in on this just a little bit because JD65 says a good team at home. Did you just watch the one of the worst teams beat us two out of three? Uh well JD, did you hear my in full comment in context? I said lately they haven’t been good historically this year in the first half they were great at home and yes they do have a winning record at home so you can’t ignore what they’re doing today and yes Jesus Sanchez does deserve credit because his bats getting nothing done he’s been over for a while and he has been pretty much a zero at the plate so if I can get something out of him in the outfield to save home runs that means hey good job we didn’t put up a we didn’t allow the Orioles to put up a 20 spot. At the end of the day, the bottom line is everybody’s frustrated. Everybody’s ranting. Everybody’s mad. But let me ask you this. All y’all that are pissed off about the Astros right now, is it going to make the Astros better? No. So, we’re going to cover the whole team. We’re going to cover the entire game and we’re going to cover the highs and the lows. And if you don’t, if you want to come here for a complete picture and analysis of the Astros, then do that. If you don’t, go somewhere else. There’s other podcasts out there. You don’t have to watch us. Um, but if you want an Astros god like me, I mean, you might as well stay here, right? So, I’m just saying this. At the end of the day, this roster has been depleted by injuries. this roster has been hurt and I think sometimes by managerial moves, but also this team wouldn’t be where they are without the people they have in the clubhouse. How how does this team get more consistent? I don’t know. But if you get hot at the right time, Eric, and I’m going to say this once, you get hot at the right time around the playoffs, all bets are off. Go back to 2019. Go back to 2021. Nobody had the Nationals or the Braves winning the World Series. Am I saying that’s going to be us? I don’t know. But if you make it to the playoffs, all bets are off. At the at the end of the day, that’s what they’re going for. They’ve got to survive. But they can’t go into a landslide because I don’t think Seattle is going to slow up anytime soon. Yeah. If you’re looking at the home record this year, the Astros are 38 and 27 at home. This is much better than their home record last year. Uh on the road they’re 31 and 28. They’re just in a bad stretch. They they look like they are a bad team at the moment. And uh we knew that there’s a lot of holes. There’s been a lot of holes in this team all year. A lot of it had to do with um I don’t want to say poor roster construction because I think Dana Brown did a great job in offseason uh turning Kyle Tucker into a whole bunch of uh big uh great pieces to use for his the team, but at the same time there’s some holes that could have been filled like maybe some more bullpen help where you don’t have to go out and get the scrap heat uh the players like I saw that Kendall Graveman was DFA the other day but we’ll have to continue this conversation. But there’s just a lot of especially with the injuries, there’s just a lot of holes in this roster. And unfortunately, the Astros are where they are. And yes, it’s going to hurt them come playoff time unless they figure out or something or somebody emerges from the uh AAA. So, we’ll go and continue this discussion on the Lockdown Astros podcast. This episode is brought to you by Prize Picks, the daily fantasy platform that let you turn your football predictions into real rewards. 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Apple, Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast, go and check us out. My name is Eric Eisman. He is Brett Chansy. We are the Locked on Nationals podcast here for you to be your counselors, your grief counselors after every loss, after every 12 to nothing loss, after almost any um perfect games anytime you need us, we’re here for you. Uh we are uh Astros fans. We are here to kind of suffer with you throughout the whole postseason, the off season, the um where whenever. That’s what we’re here for. So, we’re here as part of the lockdown at Astros Nation. So, we want to hear what you have to say. So, go ahead and continue listening to us. So, Brett, the Astros have won three consecutive series before this series. Uh this was ugly series. Uh there’s there’s such thing as losing close games and then just getting anni annihilated. And that’s what the Astros did. And that’s why we’re all feeling what we’re feeling. And even in the middle game, Jason Alexander goes out there and pitches a heck of a game, then the bullpen gives up the the four runs, and then uh you have to play uh catchup. Finally, in the 12th inning, I believe it was Don got that hit and you finally you got the run and won that game. you had a game and a half lead over the Mariners. The Mariners um if they win tonight um they could go ahead and gain um put it back to a half game over the Astros only a half game over uh the Mariners, but if they lose, they can um go and stay at where they are right now a game. But the uh this was a bad series overall. Just the pitching was not there. And uh Christian Javier uh let’s go and talk about Christian Javier because this impacted today’s game. I think Christian Javier he was in total control. And I I don’t know about you in his first game he had he threw 85 pitches in today’s game. He threw 50 pitches. And when we heard that he was leaving I know even the beat writers everybody was freaking out a little bit. Maybe not freaking out but just like wondering like what’s going on here? But I don’t think he cares. Yeah, Chandler Rome was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m joking. That dude’s about as stoic as they come.” Chandler Rome’s like, “Oh, look. Look at that tags. Javier’s leaving the game. Wonder what’s wrong.” Like, yeah, but Eric, when you when you text me, because I I didn’t have my eyes on the game at that time. Um, I’ve literally been completing four tasks in one day and I’m still not done with two of them. So, um, I was in and out of the game and because it was already gone, I was like, you know what? I’ll just catch the wrap after the game because I, you know, I had more more prosperous things to do, more fruitful things to do. But three three hits, one run, two Ks, three innings pitched. I mean, the guy’s only pitched eight innings in his first two starts, but he got sick. It makes you wonder what’s going on because Jeremy Pñena got sick. He was out for a couple games because of him being under the weather. So, what the heck, man? Can we disinfect this clubhouse? Can we get a game sponsored by Lysol? Um or something? I mean, bring back the mask. I don’t care what you got to do. These dudes got to stay healthy, man. Um but look, it’s just been one of those season. I mean, we could we could title this season as MASH, you know, like the old the old um the old um Army series back in the back in the 70s talking about all the doctors in, you know, during the during the Vietnam era and all that stuff. Uh they that’s what they are. They’re basically a mass unit and it’s like, “Hey guys, I’ve got an alien baseball player. Oh, it’s okay. I’ve got a guy over here, but he’s just got a sore hand.” I mean, we we’ve got all these things going on. Um, good thing that it’s not an injury for Javier because this is a guy you need down the stretch. And Eric, quite simply, a team that sported the best bullpen erra in all of baseball up until the last month or month and a half, this is a complete opposite of what we’ve seen um to start the year off. And their pitching was what held everything together. Don’t forget that. And I think it was because the starters, you had the situation where uh the Astros starters were struggling a little bit, but at the same time, the bullpen was keeping together. But the loss of Josh her, we can go and talk about Josher. We’ll go and talk about Lewis um Garcia and Lance McCullers for a second. But I know that we’ve talked a little bit about Josh her. Uh but he kind of came out and said, “Uh yes, um I do agree with the three weeks. I’m going to go I’m not going to throw any the ball for about three weeks. But then he also followed up and said that it’s probably going to take him about three weeks to get stretched back out, get him back to game shape. So basically, don’t expect to see Josh her for the rest of the season. That’s what I hinted at at the the last podcast I did. I just didn’t think that we would see regular season game. Well, I didn’t even think he would come back for the playoffs. I thought he was going to be done till next spring. And so, yeah, it’s just um it’s just one of those things where um he hopes to be back for the playoffs, but when he comes back for the playoffs, Shannon did say it’s only one inning outing. So, uh that’s that’s a tough pill to swallow because he has been the best closer in baseball. So my question is uh Lewis Luis Garcia is probably going to have one more start down into in TripleA before he makes his comeback and then you have Lance McCullers who likely will come back um before Luis Garcia. I know that in the last start Mullers actually pitched pretty well. I believe it was five innings he had some uh some pretty good strikeout numbers. But overall, the question is, you can’t I know you can’t have too much starting pitchers, but the bullpen appears to be the issue. Jason Alexander is the most consistent starter out there right now. Right. I know you don’t want really want to take him out of there, but it goes back to the age old question. Lance McCullers, do you put him in the bullpen and say, “Hey, Lance, I know this goes against everything I’ve been saying over the years, but I with the situation the Astros are in. Do you go ahead and put him as a reliever, maybe a long reliever, or I even saw some people talking about a tandem situation?” Like, do you go ahead and go with a tandem? But you have Garcia start the game and then you have McCullers close it out. Something like that. So, sorry I’m I’m I’m laughing at the phrase you use because you said the age-old question. That’s usually something that spans decades, but that’s what it feels like with Lance McCullers and all his injuries. The age-old question. Lance McCullers. Yes, the age-old. Anyways, um but I just that just that just hit me in the right spot. That was awesome, man. Um yeah, we got some service members in here. Thank y’all for your service. if you listen to our show, we appreciate you. Um, Army, Marine, Air Force, whatever you serve in. Um, thank you so much for your service. But yeah, um that is something that I had written about um recently and I actually saw Patrick Kiton um I like to give him credit for it because he was talking about using that and taking specific relievers like you mentioned and tagging them to certain starters. And that wouldn’t be a bad idea. You just have to figure out the right combination. And of course you would I mean because you’re essentially going to have so many starting pitchers that they’re not all going to be starting pitchers. Um a lot of the guys have done this in their career coming up through the minor league system. Um they have to stay healthy. they have to stay on the field and at the end of the day it may be what gets them to the finish line because Eric the bottom line is until this offense finds a way to be consistent and doesn’t go into a game that you’re like oh this guy owns us and then he continues to own you there’s got to be a shift in what happens at the plate you know Jerry Pñena was chasing pitches a little bit this weekend they were throwing him down and away and he kept swinging and and so he kind of reverted back to 2023 Jeremy Pñena. Well, he may not be at full strength. Uh so we don’t know what he was right. Yeah. But before he went out sick, Eric, he’s been chasing more pitches down and away. There are all these little things add up and this whole razor thin margin that the Astros pitchers have been pitching on has finally gotten them to break, you know? Right. Yeah. So, we’re going to continue this conversation, but we’ll go and talk about Alvarez. Uh, how soon can we expect him back to the lineup? Will he be perfectly healthy? And a lot of people in the chat want us to talk about how to flip this lineup around and try to make it hit better. So, uh, we can try to address that. So, guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. August 26 is officially FanDuel Futures Day. A brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and pre-season hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDuel is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP, eyeing a longot division winner, or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week one even kicks off, this is your moment. So take a flyer on an MVP race. Who’s your pick? Is it Josh Allen? Is it CJ Stout? Is it Joe Burrow? I don’t know who you’re gonna pick, who are you gonna crown as champion in August. It could be anybody or a parlay, your division winner, your dark horses. So, visit FanDuel, the FanDuel app today and start planning your futures bets now because futures day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. Hey guys, welcome to Locked on Astros podcast. Thank you for making us your first listen. Apple Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you’re listening to podcasts, go and check us out, your team every day. My name is Eric Heisman. He is Brad Chansy. And we are here for you. We’re here to console you. We’re here to cry with you. We’re here to just do whatever it takes to get you through this the rest of this season because apparently the Astros is this this season is just like a roller coaster. Even though last year we got off to this terrible start, but this season it just feels a lot worse because I guess it’s the players the Astros had last year. You had a lot of guys in the lineup that you don’t have anymore and it just feels like you had more faith. This team is going to turn things around. But with this team, it just feels like it’s so easy for people to jump ship. I know Alvarez has missed a good chunk of the season and he has been one of the Astros offensive leaders for many years. I know he’s had a bad season when he was playing, but definitely the injuries has held him back, but he’s to begin a rehab stint with Corpus Christie on um next weekend. Sorry. Um sorry, he he’s going to start this week and he could return as soon as next weekend in Baltimore. Yeah. Um, speaking of Yordon Alvarez, but but they’re also saying that he might not he might not come back until the next home stand. So, it all depends on how he feels, right? Of course. Um, but he might. Yes. So, um, I’ll believe it when I see it. Um, these are some wild questions. Are the Astros betting on the games? Um, are they gambling? Um, what what could they be protesting? Yeah, exactly. Like come on, guys. Like like seriously, look, I’m here to console you to a point, but you’re grown boys and girls, okay? And sometimes you go through tough stretches as a baseball team. Even the best baseball teams do it. Am I saying the Astros are the best baseball team? No. Are they my favorite baseball team? Always will be. They are my ride or die. The bottom line is this. It doesn’t matter what the names are on the back of that jersey, I’ll keep saying this, as long as this team produces, and this team since sweeping the LA Dodgers has been terrible. There’s no two ways about it. They have not been good. And to foresee this kind of a skid, I don’t know that any of us saw it. I thought, okay, we made a mark. Um, we’re we’re marching forward. We’re moving up. We beat the Dodgers. And then it just all fell apart. And so nobody’s making excuses at the end of the day. Nobody’s making excuses. So to accuse us of making excuses for a team that we’ve been critical of in times when they’re critical is really completely intellectual dishonest on your part as a listener or as a viewer. We sit here and we analyze and we look at every single game and we try to do so objectively. Do does our do our passions come out? 100%. So do yours. I see it in the comments. So, it’s kind of a pot calling the kettle black if you want to get on to us for making excuses when I’ve seen the same thing happen on y’all’s end. This team is going to go as far as the players that are on that roster take it. Meaning if these pitchers can shore things up and they can start putting up zeros on that scoreboard, the other thing that has to happen is these hitters have got to start hitting the ball. Plate discipline is a key thing. And people keep saying they want to fire the hitting coaches, Eric, but over the last few years, we need the Avengers help. Yeah. No, not even the Avengers can help this team right now. But if you look at their OPS, their OPS plus, all these stats that they look at, they’ve constantly been in the top five in the league for the last few years. And so there’s there’s really hard it’s really hard to say, okay, well, you you got to get rid of them. I think there needs to be a shakeup at the end of this season if I’m being honest, Eric. And I’m not saying that I want Jo Espatada gone, but Omar Lopez to me is a guy that I think would be prime candidate to take over and bring in some new blood. You know what I’m saying? And maybe that happens. Maybe if this team falters and barely gets in the wild card, if that happens, which I don’t think will, I still think they win the division, crazy as it sounds, or if they drop out in the ALDS like they did, you know, against the Tigers. There definitely needs to be some shuffling. From will be gone. Some other people will be gone. They will, I think, rebuild around the core they have, but it will be a very soft rebuild and I think they’ll pick up where they left off the first half of the season next year. Well, I know that you posted on X about a meeting that they had with Joe Spat and Dana Brown. Yeah. That was last year. That was That was last year. That was an article after they That was an article by Chandler Rome after from a source within the clubhouse about what happened. Okay. Yeah. And what they were talking about how they were talking about the the approach at the plate, how they weren’t taking enough pitches, how they were going to change that, how they were going to talk to the hitting coaches. Well, those same things continue to happen. So that’s why I think there’s a legit conversation to be had about who’s going to be coaching or managing this team in 2026 because there are a lot of things that I think are missing. Yeah. And a lot of it has to do with Dana Brown has done some great things, but at the same time, I think because of the contracts that were on this roster and um the limitations by Jim Crane, I think that he just didn’t do a great job of adding the depth needed for a long-term run. Also, the Astros have been winning a lot and so at the same time, they lost um a lot of minor leaguers because of the controversy. uh they they just from trades. So they just don’t have the deep farm system to build on. So you’re having to just find a guy, just a guy. And sometimes you find gold like um sometimes they click, sometimes they don’t. And so right now the Astros are just threading water until they get to a point where they have some of these younger guys come. But at the same time, like you said, who are the Astros? What’s their goal? Last year they lost in the two games versus the Tigers in the wild card series and this was after they traded for Kikuchi and you would thought oh Kikuchi did a great job they’ll bring him back but they didn’t. They let him go to a rival team and so it just felt like well you can’t just count on these injured players coming back. Christian Javier he’s looked good. You don’t know what to expect from Luis Garcia and JP France. JP France is looking pretty darn good down in TripleA. I want to say that real quick. But um overall, ju just go back to Alvarez real quick. Uh Dana Brown did say that Alvarez will play Tuesday, rest Wednesday, and play backtoback games. And then he said he could return next weekend. But like you said, that word could that could be in um next week or week after that. We never know with this team. So, no. Yeah, definitely. Um, and you know, just to just to kind of reiterate what I was saying there there there are just a lot of things that I think going forward that if they change, I can understand why there would be change. Now, because Jo Espatada has taken them back to first place and he is there right now, I don’t see Jim Jim Crane’s not that guy. There are owners in the league that if they feel like even if they’re in first place, even if they go to the playoffs, if they don’t like it, you’ve seen managers let go. Um, it all depends on what’s going on in the clubhouse, do the players and the manager get along? If they get along, then fine, keep it. Don’t you know, you just have to produce more? Um, you know, you know, the hitting coaches, I don’t know that getting rid of them is really the answer because what are they going to call the hit a home run play? Because it’s not like football. It’s not like Madden. You can’t just insert a play and run it and hope it works. The selection of the pitches, the selection of the swings, all that stuff comes in time. So, there’s no real great way to look at this team other than they’re going through it. They are in the drags. They are in the valley. They are going through the muck and the mire. And I will always say this that I don’t have faith in any other team like I do in this team, Eric, because I think they have what it takes to win the time is right to bear down and get it done because this this team, unlike most, has done more than just about any team in Major League Baseball since 2017. Well, they say it’s the dog days of August for a reason, and that’s what the Astros are going through right now. But uh Jesus Sanchez after his hot start to his career with the Astros, he is ice cold. He’s in a 0 for 21 slump right now. I know he had the two great catches today. He’s making some type of contribution. But when you have a guy that’s hitting what, one, two, three, fourth in your lineup that’s 0 for 21 and struggling with the bats um ever since that Marlin series. That’s it’s hard to get a lot of wins. And so briefly, I know we need to end a show fairly soon, but how would you revamp this lineup without adding anybody else to this roster? How would you change the lineup? We had Pina, Kareah, Altuve, Sanchez, Diaz, Keratini, Dubon, Melton, Chamel. I know that Walker had a day off, but picture Walker would be in the lineup instead of Don. I mean, how would I how how are you asking me how I would change the lineup? Well, number one, I would quit messing with the lineup and putting guys in four different positions in the lineup. Keep them where they are. Like, if you’re going to put Kareah, leave him there. If you’re going to put Alu a second, leave him there. I I mean, come on. Like, Jeremy Payey, just leave him in the just leave him in the leadoff spot. Don’t Don’t change it every two games. Don’t put freaking Walker in the cleanup and then the six spot and then the five spot and then the seven spot. Quit moving guys around. Also, also if a guy’s hot and he goes three games in a row and he gets two hits, don’t sit him. I don’t care if the schedule that your analytics guys came up with said on this date he sits, he’s freaking hot. Let him play. Play the hot bat. You know, I mean, how about that? Or how about not steal a base or try to steal a base when you got a guy up to bat and take the bat out of his hand to get thrown out. How about that? There’s there’s some pretty simple things this team can do. All right. And I’ve held back on my frustration cuz people act like I’m not frustrated. Well, let me tell you, there are things the Astros can do and there are things that the Astros must do to be successful. Cuz if not, if the Orioles are mopping the floor with you, the good teams sure as heck aren’t going to care. They’re going to split your carcass in half and run your blood through the streets. That’s what’s going to happen if you don’t shape up. Because at the end of the day, this team is their own worst enemy. Okay? They got to look in the mirror and they’ve got to say, “I’m not going to let I’m I’m going to be better today than I was yesterday.” And I know these guys care. We talked to a lot of these guys, Eric. These these guys aren’t slubs. These guys aren’t like Albert Haynesworth after after $100 million contract in the NFL. They care. They want to go out. They want to produce. But we forget hitting a baseball is extremely hard and playing baseball is not easy. So at the end of the day, we’ve got to look at what they’re doing and what they’re not doing. And what they’re doing is they’re pulling guys when they’re hot. They’re keeping guys in when they’re not. And then it’s just like, you know what, Christian Walker, when we go, I’m gonna have you sit another day. I’m gonna have you I I want you to look at this picture. That’s you’ll be facing this guy on Tuesday. I want you to study your you know what off for this guy Tuesday. And I want you to come in and I don’t want you to swing in a single pitch outside the zone. I need you to stay in the zone and stay disciplined. I need I I need two home runs. I need two home runs Tuesday. If you don’t hit two home runs, you know what? You’re sitting again. Like freaking I don’t care if they’re million-dollar grown men. Treat them like they’re players and you be the coach. You’re in charge, Joe. Man up. Yeah. So I I just think it’s the offense the pitching when you get behind like this when Duban gives up four runs and the what was it fourth inning and then Ort gives up two more runs then Jordan Williams gives up five more runs it just it’s when you get in that far a hole. Um I guess Oort pitched good in today’s game but overall the bullpen has just been struggling. Five runs sorry in five innings 11 runs today. It just there’s a lot of pressure. Everybody has to everybody feels like they have to be the hero. And so once every asset aspect of the team is doing better, like you have the pitching going well, the bullpen and the offense and the defense, I think that you’ll see this team go on another run like we saw. Maybe somebody somebody said earlier September is when the Astros start um going on a roll. Maybe that’s right. Maybe um just the dog days of August is getting to them. you have all the injuries that’s hitting them all at once and but the Josh her thing is going to be the biggest thing that’s going to hurt this team because that’s that one guy and that bullpen that you’re like oh uh once we get it to ninth inning we have Josh her but they don’t have that anymore and so it’s frustrating the fact that he may not be here for the rest of the regular season. So the Astros just have to do what they’ve been doing. It’s as fans we’re we’re all we’re all frustrated. We’re all We should be what, five or six games over the Mariners, but we are where we are because of our roster. Yeah. I mean, and and and despite all that, despite all the frustration, they are still in first place. I I mean, you know, I keep saying it. I I have never been a glass half empty guy. I I’m a glass half full guy and I’m going to see positive for what it is. But at the end of the day, man, sometimes you got to like jettison to like a different feel. You You’ve got to light that clubhouse up with a little bit of passion and say, “Okay, guys, this is our goal this week.” Like I want to go out. I want to hit, you know, I want to hit this many home runs this week. Like like like put some arbitrary numbers out there. Just let them. And can we get a home run gimmick? Can we get Orbit’s head mask or something? Can we get something that guy gets these guys going? I mean, Carlos Cray is the rally guy, you know? What kind of tons of space helmets out there? Why can’t they just look I’m not saying that’s what that’s what turns this season around, but those are the little things I’m talking about. Okay. So, anyways, um I’m excited to see what Yordon does in Corpus. Um I really hope that this road trip is not a disaster. They’re going to Detroit. They have had their way with the Tigers this year. They have had their way with first place teams. So, say what you want about the Orioles series. They are very good, the best team in baseball against first place teams. And numbers don’t lie. Spence Arrigetti would be looking to bounce back. He is 1 and3 with a 6.38 RA on the season versus Jack Flity. Flity is 6 and2 with a 4.76 RA on the season. But Flity is um sneaky bad. He has 153 strikeouts on the season. So, um, he’s not going to be any slouch out there. So, hopefully the Astros can get a victory out there. And, uh, what’s going to be epic matchup is going to be Hunter Brown versus Tariq Scooble. That’s going to be a probably it’s probably going to be pitching matchup, but who knows with today’s game. So, guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day, whether it’s on YouTube, go subscribe to us, go make Oh, it looks like Eric paused. I will end the show. Thank y’all for tuning in. This is Locked on Astros. And hey, don’t drink too many LTMO margs and run on the field at the same time. It’s

Join Eric Huysman and Brett Chancey for the Locked On Astros podcast as the Astros drop two of 3 versus the Orioles. It wasn’t that they lost; it’s how they lost those games. The one game they won was based on a strong showing by Jason Alexander. Yordan Alvarez should be returning to game action with the Hooks soon. Cristian Javier gave us a scare today.

HOUSTON ASTROS struggle as injuries mount. Can they maintain their lead in the AL West?

They break down the Astros’ recent woes, including shutout losses to the Baltimore Orioles and a depleted roster. The hosts analyze Christian Javier’s early exit, Josh Hader’s season-ending injury, and Yordan Alvarez’s potential return. They explore lineup concerns, bullpen struggles, and debate potential coaching changes.

Please tune in for expert insights on how the Astros can overcome their slump and solidify their playoff position.

0:00 Intro: Astros lose series to Orioles

5:40 Astros outscored 44-17 in recent homestand

16:18 Josh Hader injury update and timeline

27:13 Potential coaching changes for Astros in future

32:28 Suggestions for revamping Astros lineup

38:15 Preview of upcoming Astros vs Tigers series

Locked On Astros is a daily podcast about the Houston Astros, hosted by Eric Huysman and Brett Chancey. It is part of the Locked On Podcast Network.
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