Houston Astros Walk it Off, Win in Ramón!

Houston Astros Walk it Off, Win in Ramón!

And just like that, the Houston Astros take out the Baltimore Orioles. It was a great win and someone that was hitless got the game-winning hit. J 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. [Music] Hey everybody and welcome in to this edition of Lock on Astros. You know me, I’m Htown Wheelhouse here, one half of Lock on Astros. We are your team every single day. You know I had to come in tonight and talk about this game. You know what? Friday night I didn’t necessarily drop the ball. I fell asleep. I had my first week back at school and I was whooped between school tryyouts, everything else going on. Sammy’s first day of his senior year. I’m so excited. But thank y’all for tuning in. Thank y’all for stopping by. Myself and Eric Heisman have about 16 to 18 years podcasting experience and we love our audience. Y’all are the best. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Let Monarch Money help you take control of your finances. And this way, if you use the code lockdown at monarchmoney.com, you’ll get 50% off your first year. Well, I hope you guys and girls hung in there. Why? Because oh my gosh, that was a doozy. That is a game that if you’re a true baseball fan, you understand the anomalies and the things that happened during this game. I’ll try to break them all down. Roman Urias to the rescue. Kind of almost not really. But before we get to that, I really think that we need to talk about Billy Wagner. Billy Wagner is the third Houston Astro to have his number retired in the Hall of Fame in Coopertown, New York. I would think that if Nolan Ryan had stayed with the Astros and finished his career with the Astros that he would have that he would be there as well. And yes, definitely hit that like button while you’re watching here live. If you are watching me on Tik Tok, hit that like button. Share the like. Let’s get the gifts up. Y’all have fun while you’re watching me do my show here locked on. We’re pulling double duty here. We only got 21 people live. Where is everybody? Did they go to the game? Are they celebrating? That’s fine. That’s okay. But Billy Wagner came out today and it was a cryfest. This dude got emotional just every time he talked, whether it was in the press conference room, whether it was at the mic at the at the stadium. And unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be there. Well, I could have gone. Um, I believe someone when they sent me a text, they were they were going to offer me a ticket, but I told them that I had to do adult things and that I could not make it. But I know that Brian McTagert and Chandler Rome and all the guys that cover the team from a daily basis um there on the field chronicled it really really well. You know, he was there with his entire family on the stage. You had all the Astros Hall of Fame inductees that are alive today. I mean, Lance Burkeman was even there. That was cool. Beio Bagwell, Bill Brown, Terry P, Larry Durker, Jose Cruz, and a couple others were there to see this great honor that Billy Wagner had bestowed upon him. Um, some people were joking before the game, should we get Billy Wagner and should we let him pitch during the game? No, Billy Wagner’s not going to pitch. No, it will go a lot like it does when you see former big league pitchers go into banana ball games and get absolutely shelled and crushed like Roger Clemens, like one Roy Oswalt. So, that’s why I figured I would take on the old red brick. I know Billy Wagner was more of the retro the late 90s, but I was feeling a little nostalgic with the red brick um you know, mantra here today. So this game coming in, you knew before the game happened that the Houston Astros had gained a half game because the Mariners had lost. The Mets took care of business for the Astros. Not that they were doing it for that, but the Mets beat the Mariners. So that helped the Astros. That helps the Astros cause. And when you look at um when you look at the AO West, there’s a lot of losing going on in the West. The East is on fire right now. I mean, these guys are absolutely just It’s like they can’t lose. The Astros have 69 wins now. Nice. Um, the Tigers have 73 and the Blue Jays have 73, but the Blue Jays edge them out. Both of them have a winning streak of four games in three games. But the hottest team in baseball, and I I know we’re here for locked on Astros. I know we’re here for Astros baseball, but the freaking Brewers just won their 14th game in a row. They have a plus 162 run differential. Holy crap. The Astros a plus 39 run differential. This offense is scary and consistent. Um and I want to talk about that because um Ross V Royale uh put out a stat about where the Astros have been the last few years. I believe it was today. I’m going to I’m going to try to find it on his feed. Um, but he he basically talked about how the Astros the last several years, oh, here it is. Troy Snicker and Alex Centronone have been on the Astros together since 2019. Over that span, the Astros rank second in WRC plus, third in OPS, fourth in run, second in walks per nine, and 30th in K percentage. 30th in K percentage, meaning they don’t strike out a lot with runners in scoring position o over that span. Second in OPS, second in WRC plus, and 30th in K percentage. Okay, so it’s crazy to see these numbers that are almost defensible of the Astros hitting coaches, right? Um there is a lot of hate, a lot of stuff thrown at them. I have never been one that says we need to fire them, but at the same time, I wonder if it would bringing in new blood. I wonder if that would help. Um, I actually chronicled this earlier on X when I saw someone mention an article from last year. Okay, so this is last year. This is from Chandler Rome and Chandler Rome said, uh, this was a quote, okay, um, talking about the hitting coaches, talking about changes that needed to happen. This was after the Detroit Tigers lost in the ALDS that when the Astros were defeated by them. We need to start seeing more pitches. We’ve been far too aggressive too early in the count. Second and third, no outs. We’re swinging at breaking balls early in the count. We need to get away from that. We need to hunt the fast balls. We need to be a little bit more patient and aggressive in zone, not so much aggressive out of the zone. I think if we can do that, that’s going to make a big difference. Okay. Then the insider also revealed that Brown members of the front office and manager Joe Espatada met with hitting coaches Troy Snicker and Alex Centron over these changes. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this. This was an article from Sports Illustrated. So, have they done that? Have those things happened? Jeremy Pñena definitely has done that. Jeremy Pñena definitely has gotten away from chasing pitches. Now, tonight he kind of went in and and had a and had a tough job um staying off the down and away pitches. So, the bottom line is this. The Houston Astros get a win. And someone’s saying Walker stinks. I’m not going to say what they really said, but Walker, look, Walker has hit better. If you look at his statistics over the last few months, he has been better. Yeah, I mean, he was only one for four today, but if you look at where Christian Walker was versus where he is, I would argue that Christian Walker is a much better player now. He’s having a down month right now in August. In July, he hit 318. Okay, he did have three home runs. He’s had three home runs or more in every month. He now he has three home runs in August, so maybe he’s trending upward. His average is not great, but his OPS is still over 800. So he has done much better pre-allar versus postallar, 40 points higher, 200 points on OPS. Um, so he’s done a pretty good job. But today’s game, it’s almost surprising that the Astros won because the guy that won the game was 0 for six, which is insane to me. He was 0 for six in the game today. The Astros were three for 15 with runners in scoring position. They left 13 on base. I mean, it was insane. And getting lost in the fray is another excellent output by Jason Alexander. six innings pitched, three hits, two earned runs, six strikeouts, and one home run. So, they definitely definitely got what they needed out of the pitchers until Bennett Sosa blew the save and he’s been a guy that we’ve been touting as, you know, he’s the next setup guy, etc., etc. But we’re going to talk more about that um after we hear about our friends from Monarch Money. you know, controlling your finances and making sure that you’re building wealth, those are both the same thing. 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Once again, thank you all for tuning in to Locked on Astros. We are your team every single day. And if you watch the postcast of Michael Connor, he was there live doing the show afterwards. I jumped in today because I missed yesterday and I couldn’t get away from I couldn’t get away from not doing the show tonight. Um, so Luke says, “So we should have so we should have won 2019.” You’re saying, Brett, we should have won 2019. We should have won 2021. We should have won We should have beat the Rangers in 2023. I I mean this is what’s crazy about the Rangers is Rangers fans will always talk about 23 as I mean until the cows come home. They will never stop talking about that. I’m fine. But go look at their record since we’ve been division leaders since 2017. They literally had a fluke season. There’s this one random season that sticks out out of all of them. The only thing that’s consistent about the Rangers in Arlington or South Oklahoma is they continue to disappoint. That’s all there is to it. But oh, so right here, Rich is saying that the Brewers and the Jays are pretender. Oh, are the Brewers and Jays pretenders or contenders? Well, Mr. Lavell, this is what I would say. Typically, the Brewers are pretenders. They get hot, they look good, and they just don’t make it. They just don’t finish the task this year. This Brewers team might be different. The same thing with the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays always seem to disappoint, but for whatever reason, I have a different feeling about this Blue Jays team. They are, they do seem to be a little better than normal. And so at the end of the day, it really is going to come down to who can beat the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. Now, the Cubs have been not playing great. Neither have the Dodgers, but I think when they strap on their playoff helmets that more than likely those teams come alive. So, you’ve got a very strong National League. You got the Phillies, you got the Cubs, you’ve got the Brewers, you got the Padres’s, you got the Dodgers. Those teams right there alone, oh my gosh, they are going to slaughter each other. That might bode well for the American League because the other team gets beat up by by all these other teams before they make it to you in the AL and the AL’s wide open. The Astros could win. Okay. Every time the Astros win, Brett should take a shot of tequila. What? Why? I’m not I’m not a take a shot of tequila guy. I’m I’m not one of those guys. Um how about you take a shot of tequila and you tell me how it is. Um at this point I would have taken 69 shots of tequila. No thank you sir. I’m not I’m I’m not your I’m not that guy. Okay. I’m just not that guy. So let’s talk about Roman Urias. This anomaly of a game. 0 for six. One RBI. That was the last RBI of the game. And two strikeouts. yet he gets the walk-off. That’s insane, bro. That is totally insane. And there wasn’t a whole lot of hitting. There were eight hits. Carlos Kareah collected two. There were two singles. Then you had Altuve with the solo home run. You had Yanner Diaz with one for five. Walker one for four. Dubon won for two. I mean, but look, they had eight hits, they scored five runs. The Orioles had seven hits, they scored four runs. And guess who got the win for the game today? It was Deos Santos. Deos Santos has pitched really well for this team since he’s come over. Two innings and one strikeout. You love to see that. Abrau Okert and and De Los Santos took care of the job. Wart came in and took care of the job. The only one that fell down was Bennett Souza, who I think should be the rightful setup man. Today, not so much. He didn’t do great. twothirds of an inning pitch, two hits, two earned runs, one walk. The the two the two runs were the home run, Jackson Holiday. That kid is that kid’s a phenomenal talent. He is he is fun to watch. Um definitely love watching him um play. Just wish he wasn’t on the Orioles and wish he played for the Astros, if you know what I mean. Um, so the bullpin, they are going to have some bumps and bruises along the way. And here’s the thing with Josh her. We got some kind of good news. Okay, the good news is that he can probably be back for the playoffs, but if he is, he would only be reserved for one inning outings. I don’t know. I guess I would rather have him back for the playoffs than not at all in 2025. But losing Josh her is an absolute blow. What that means is the rest of the relief pitchers have got to pick up the slack. The middle relief has been suffering lately. They’ve got it over four erra. They aren’t doing the great things that they know how to do. The Astros offense can and has shown the ability to pick things up, but they’ve absolutely got to take advantage of the Orioles tomorrow. Okay. And let’s look at You know what? I’m probably not going to go all the way through 30 minutes. We’re probably going to do a little bit of a short show tonight. Um, but let’s look at who we got going tomorrow. Um, Orioles versus the Astros. Christian Javier 1 and0 with a 3.60 erra, five strikeouts outside of the two runs he gave up when he first hit the mound for the first time in about a year and a half. He actually dealt looked good. Then you have Dean Kmer um who is 8 and N with a 4.17 erra, 116 strikeouts and 144 and one-thirds innings. So, you have a lot of guys that have success with Krimmer. So, if he’s on the mound and you think that this is the game where the Astros definitely um have a chance to get one over on an Orioles pitcher, it would be tomorrow. But we also thought that against Friday night’s opponent. This kid was from Young is from Lumberton, Texas. Was 0 and1 in his major league career and got his first major league win versus who? The Houston Astros. Then we have Seth Messer Smith08 says, “Go Dodgers.” Hey, whatever, man. Whatever floats your boat, buddy. Um, just tell Shi Otani to stop doing illegal land deals because that dude can’t stay out of trouble. That’s weird, isn’t it? That’s that’s some weird energy for Otani. And the last thing the league needs is Otani getting caught up in another controversy. Um, do y’all really believe that Otani didn’t know that his interpreter was gambling or do you think, like I do, that he was actually the one gambling and the interpreter took the fall? Wow. I mean, he’s a face of MLB, so now they’re in on it, right? So, let’s look at this. So, I gave you the pitching matchup. We literally have 10 games in 10 days. Okay. You have the Tigers the next three games after Sunday in Detroit. Then you play the Orioles again at Baltimore for four games. And to round out the month, the Rockies and the Angels. I like this schedule. I like this schedule a lot. I like how August rounds out. Now, let’s look at our opponents, the Seattle Mariners, because what they have going will also be interesting to see. Um, when it comes to their schedule, if I can get to their website, um, Seattle Mariners schedule for August, they’ve got they’ve got these two, they got one more in New York, um, and then they play the Phillies. They are in Philadelphia. They have a day off, then they have the A’s, but then they play the Padres’s. The Padres’s are redot. And they play the Guardians. I like the Astros chances over the Mariners. And I think if the Astros take care of their business and do what they’re supposed to do, if you come out of August, going into September with a four-ame lead, I think that will be sufficient. They have a game and a half lead right now. Um, and Seattle will get cold just like the weather. David said that’s right. Oh, someone asked. I wondered who was going to ask this. Um, well, hey, you know what? A blind squirrel gets a nut every once in a while, right? Someone said San Diego’s losing to the Dodgers. Well, you know, San Diego has been hot as of late. How about CJ Strad wearing a Mariners hat? Shake my head. Look, so there are all these like dying the wool defenders of CJ Stout and god forbid if you say something bad about a Texans quarterback. I just thought it was in poor taste that the Astros are in the heat of a division race and your quarterback wears a Seattle Mariners hat. Okay. He said it matched what he was wearing. Wasn’t he wearing? Wasn’t it black top, black bottoms, and then he had the navy blue Seattle Mariners hat? I don’t know. I don’t know that it matched. So, he made that. He made that. And then he said, “Well, you know, because I’m from LA, I’m an Astros and a Dodgers fan.” And then people were freaking out. And so, it was just so funny because at the end of the day, um whether CJ Strad wears a Mariners hat or whatever, I don’t care. Um I I made a comment on it and people just got so unhinged um about that. You know um look at the end of the day the Astros are in first place. They’re a game and a half up on the Mariners and that is a good thing. So anytime you can gain a half game or a game on a division rival that is hard charging for you then you are in good company. The Rangers they’re two games under 500. So, Rangers fans, where you at? I thought our reign was over. I I remember your commentators, Rangers, in like particularly saying the Astros reign is over. Well, I guess not. So, you know what? Um, guys, I’m going to let y’all go. Oh, I can’t let you go yet. I’ve got to tell you about Yordon Alvarez. Yordon Alvarez, what is the latest on him? That is the millionoll question. Yordon Alvarez is already done with live abs in Florida. He came out feeling pretty strong, really good. He’s flying back here tomorrow. The Astros will take the next steps after seeing him tomorrow. What? So, you’re saying there’s a chance? So, you’re saying there’s a chance? One in a million chance. The Houston Astros are telling us that he’s coming back. I don’t know about y’all, but I’ll believe it when I see it. No offense, no offense to the Astros medical staff, but y’all are bad at your job. And look at how long Jordan’s been out. And look how long Kyle Tucker was out. And go back to 2021 and 2020 when Alex Bregman had all the soft tissue injuries. And what about Jake Myers? I don’t know. I don’t know what’s up with him. So, miss me with the let’s celebrate our our doctor and give him a jersey. Oh my gosh. Whatever. I don’t know if y’all saw this, but Dumbrosski brought out the head trainer for their team because the manager couldn’t explain the injury that was happening. And I’m like, maybe the Astros need to do that. That might be nice. Yeah. Hater, Meyers. Parades. I don’t know if Parades will come back. Hater playoffs maybe. Meyers playoffs maybe. But if not, you’ve got to go with the with the one that brought you to the dance with the horses you got in the barn. Oh, and my guy from Ramshirts is watching on TikTok. I’ve got his H-Town Script shirt on. His Htown Script shirts are topnotch. They’re comfortable. They’re great to wear um no matter where you go. So, there you go, Mark. I hope you appreciate that. But look guys, I gotta go. Um, I’ve gota I’ve got to turn it off for Locked on Astros tonight. Eric will be back with me tomorrow night. Thank y’all so much for tuning in. Y’all as always are the best audience and if we didn’t have y’all have anything because we see this show grow,000 downloads in a single year to 1.8 million downloads last year. And I haven’t updated my numbers, but last time I checked, we were already at about 1.3 million. Folks, we’re breaking 2 million this year. And if you haven’t told your friends about Locked on Astros, if you haven’t told your grandmother and your aunt and your uncle or your neighbors about Locked on Astros, I ask you why not. The time is now. If not you, then who? If not now, then when? You know what? The Houston Astros are inevitable. And I’m out. That’s a wrap. That’s how you close a show, people.

Astros immortalize Billy Wagner and the Astros scratch a much needed victory!
ASTROS STUN ORIOLES: Ramón Urias’ Clutch Performance Ignites Playoff Race

Houston Astros secure crucial victory against Baltimore Orioles, narrowing gap with Seattle Mariners. Brett H. Town Wheelhouse breaks down Urias’ game-winning RBI despite 0-for-6 night, highlighting Astros’ offensive prowess and upcoming schedule challenges. Billy Wagner’s emotional number retirement ceremony takes center stage, marking him as the third Astro enshrined in Cooperstown. Yordan Alvarez injury update sparks optimism for Astros’ lineup. Can Houston maintain their division lead during a pivotal 10-game stretch?
0:00 Intro: Astros defeat Orioles, Billy Wagner honored

5:40 Astros’ impressive offensive stats since 2019

11:18 Discussing Rangers and other MLB contenders

14:21 Ramón Urias’ unusual game-winning performance

17:26 Preview of upcoming Astros vs Orioles matchup

19:32 Analyzing Astros and Mariners remaining schedules

22:38 Latest update on Yordan Alvarez’s return

Tune in for in-depth analysis of the Astros’ path to postseason glory and exclusive insights on Wagner’s Hall of Fame legacy.
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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