How Astros series win feels LARGER ahead of huge RETURNS in Houston!

How Astros series win feels LARGER ahead of huge RETURNS in Houston!

Welcome to Stone Cold Stros. I’m Brandon Strange alongside Charlie Polo and Josh Jordan. You can follow them on X at Palo Josh Jordan 975. And in between our podcast episodes here, you can read their blogs covering the Astros, Texans, andor Rockets over on sportsmap.com. On today’s episode, someone once said that time is a flat circle. Someone else also said that Jason Alexander could toss six scoreless in Yankee Stadium. To my knowledge, only one of those people will be appearing on this podcast today. It was a touching family reunion in the Bronx as Jose Alto paid visit to his kids. Speaking of returns, the prodical son makes his return to Dyken and he’s been busy with the rake and Houston needs every bit of it as the enemy is at the gate at top the AL West. But before all that, show your support for the show. Hit like on the video, subscribe to the channel, click that bell for notifications so you know when new content drops. We’re on all your favorite podcast apps if you want to listen. And one more plug, the three of us are relaunching the Texans podcast, Texans on Tap. Uh so first episode drops this week, so keep an eye out for that if you’re a Texans fan. Charlie Josh, welcome in. Uh so Houston wraps the roadie with a series dub over the Yanks. Games one and two brought the drama, but uh after losing that Framber game, you just figured well the odds of winning the rubber game versus Max Freed were slim. But then Sunday, Jose Alt walks to the plate, deposits the very first pitch he sees into the left field seats, and just reminds everybody whose house it is. And then Jason Alexander, we touched on in the open there, proceeded to out pitch Max Freed, held the Yankees hitless through the first four. Where are you guys at with this team following them taking two of three in the Bronx? Not a good road trip, but the way it started, they turned it into a very acceptable road trip. Blown out of Boston, swept in three and just badly outplayed. And then they go get two out of three in consecutive series after that. So four and five. You’re not saying hip hip hooray, but when you’re 0 and three and you recover and take four or four of the last six. And I mean, look, there are thousands of reasons I could give for why I love baseball, but heading into the series, you’re told neither Hunter Brown nor Framber Valdez will meet the book definition of quality start. And Hunter Brown was awesome for five innings Friday night and then it just all caved in on him in the sixth. Uh just had the B material in the game Saturday and was was ineffective. And then Jason Alexander, you know, the Yankees had Jason Alexander bobblehead day earlier this season. Well, it was George Castanza. Uh, but Jason Alexander with his 90 91 mile per hour fast balls. I mean, not incredible command. He walked three, but just bamboozled the Yankees telling Hunter and Frober, “Here’s how you do it in the Big Apple big guys.” So, what a pick them up. Alexander also going deeper into the game than you would generally expect. He’s done it a couple of times. Uh but still his pedigree is minimal at best. And you know for the weekend the Yankees lead Major League Baseball in home runs. They lead the American League in runs scored. Yankee Stadium with that jetream out to right right center field except for one awful Brian King pitch to Trent Christian in the Saturday game. The Astros kept the Yankees in the ballpark the entire weekend. So they pitched well. The offense scored a minimum of four runs in each of the three games and they leave the Bronx four games ahead of the Yankees and a leg up taking the series if it comes down to the tiebreaker. Right. Three more games at Dyen Park with these two teams. Uh Texas Rangers got swept by the Phillies. So that was very good for the Astros. Yeah, the Mariners are not relenting. and the Cleveland Guardians, you know, that’s that’s a team that the Astros were to really hit the wall that they might need to wind up finishing ahead of to to secure a wild card. Uh, but taking two out of three from the Yankees in their place, just the way it played out and for the standings, good weekend and as I said, making it an acceptable four and five home stand or road trick, excuse me. Yeah, Alexander looked great. Just mixing in that change up, low fast ball sinkers, just getting contact. I mean, just he was really solid. He was he’s very accurate with a lot of those pitches. He had the sweeper. Every now and then he’d just kind of flip one in to get a quick strike on you and get up in the count. He did everything he wanted to do and he’d go after, you know, he’s only throwing 91, but he’s not afraid to go after these guys. He did a great job. I I think the umpire gave him a couple pitches that were a little low and then that got Boone really upset and then he when he got kicked out of the game, the pitch he was complaining about, I think actually clipped the very bottom of Kzone. But anyway, the spark didn’t work. The the Yankees never got the offense going. It was just just a classic Altuve in New York type performance. And then you throw in Koreah on top of that. It’s just unbelievable these two guys back together. It’s I feel like it’s changing everything. Ka’s hitting over 400 since he’s joined the team. Altuve has been great. And Christian Walker, guys, look what he’s starting to turn into. Really driving in the RBI’s over the past 10 games. So, I’m really impressed with I’m seeing here. And what I’m noticing is I pulled the stats just for August and then I pulled the stats for the last 30 days. They’re pretty similar. I mean the ERRA they’re 12th in August. The last 30 days they’re 13th. Whip their 13th in August. 15th the last 30 days. A lot of the numbers are similar. I just hope the offense can really get going here. And I’m really seeing that the leadership with Koreah. I noticed with Cam Smith before he got that big hit today. Kareah kind of talking to him through that at bat. Cam got lucky. Got a a pitch that was probably a strike called a ball. got an extra opportunity and took advantage of it. But I think we’re starting to see the the leadership effect a guy like Kareah can have on some of these younger guys. Uh leadership’s good, but really matters if he’s playing well. And as you’ve mentioned, Josh, he’s been swinging the bat fantastically since rejoining the Astros. Couple of other points on the Sunday game in particular. Alexander needed 25 pitches to get through the first inning. Weren’t in big trouble, but 25 pitches that did not augur well for him to go six. And the Astros bullpen as we know has been stretched out especially in the nonfrober and Hunter Brown starts. So that was just a money performance by Alexander. And then a second guesser’s delight. You know good decisions sometimes can just blow up in your face. Questionable decisions can work out. Does that mean the manager is an idiot or a genius? No. It’s just the way it plays. Jesus Sanchez cannot hit left-handed pitching for his career. He’s about 175. This season he’s about 125. It was odd that Espatada had him in the lineup against Max Freed. Clearly they made the decision they did not want Altuve playing any left field in the big left left center field at Yankee Stadium. So it was all DH for him. Well, Sunday you could have played Altuve at second base, Dubon in left field and DH Gnner Diaz. I know Yiner hasn’t been all guns ablazing this season, but certainly a better option against left-handed pitching than Jesus Sanchez. for his entire career, Sanchez has done nothing against lefties. So, a big hit in the game. Granted, it was Max Freed hitting Sanchez to uh set up the opportunity for Cam Smith. And the things that can just sort of sift through the colander pretty clearly Cam Smith should have been called out on the 2- two pitch, but you get the benefit of the doubt. Doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to cash the opportunity. You have to do that. And then Cam Smith puts solid contact on the ball going the other way. Gives the Astros two runs to pad the margin. And then of course in the ninth inning they just they just blow it out. So those little things can mean a lot. And so Spa comes out uh I don’t know if smelling like roses but um Sanchez in the lineup against the lefty was was very curious but he can say scoreboard. They brought that up on the broadcast Charlie. They said just his matchup between the two guys that Sanchez actually had a a decent amount of hits against him in their career even though he’s so bad against lefties in general. So, for the record, it was Josh who I was talking about at the beginning who said Alexander could toss uh sex scoreless. Um the that was just kind of an illusion to uh how crazy and unpredictable this season has been. It’s been a roller coaster at times. Charlie, you talked about how they open this road trip getting swept in Boston uh and then end up winning, you know, two of three in the Bronx, the the the rubber game in dominant fashion. Um, have you guys seen that meme? That’s uh it’s it’s like a circle and there’s like arrows and there’s like four positions on the circle and the positions say we’re back. It’s over. We’re so back. It’s over. And and that’s funny because it’s just at any given time during this season, it feels like you could be at any of those places. But with Koreah back on the roster and in the lineup and whacking the ball all over the yard right now, it’s hard to not feel like this team isn’t back. Uh but obviously that could flip on a dime because uh tough series ahead. Um I texted um uh Josh uh during game one and I said you know after they left so uh Susan for the seventh I I said clearly a spot is trying to stay away from King. Uh they bring him in in game two he coughs up what you said uh you know what you talked about ends up being the game-winning home run. Now he bounced back. King that is bounced back Sunday striking out the side but you know non-levered situation in the ninth with you know six run cushion. Um I’d say you know while we’re while we’re talking about it hats off to Josh her Brian uh Brian Abra just for being horses this season. Hater threw 36 pitches Friday. Uh Bennett Susa has been asked to throw a lot as of late. He loaded the bases Sunday and then Joe went to Abrau who put out the fire. Um, I bring this up because Charlie talked about it, Joe kind of having his finger on the pulse here. MLB.com listed their manager of the year candidates and they have a spot at number one in the AL. Um, anyone watching this team closely, I think, has to be impressed with how Joe has juggled the lineup. Made a lot of chicken salad and lemonade with the incredible amount of injuries. Um, so he’s number one of my books. But what’s the argument against at this point, Charlie? The argument against Espa, I don’t think there’s a particularly good argument against him. And when you look at other candidates, maybe a month ago, we spoke to this when the Astros were winding down what turned out to be the 29 and 10 stretch. And the Rays were several games over 500 with their always nickel dime payroll. and Kevin Cash was worthy of consideration. Well, they’ve dipped now to being multiple games below 500. Uh, with the Red Sox huge surge, if they were to go on and maybe reel in Toronto, um, then perhaps Alex Kora’s name gets mentioned a little bit. Uh, if the Blue Jays wind up running away with the AL East, right? Most people were not impressed with their off seasonason. They wind up caving and giving Vlad Guerrero Junior half a billion dollars. uh that maybe John Schneider is is another candidate there and what was perceived coming into the season anyway and being clearly the best division in the American League East. But you know the Astros are on pace to win more games than they did last year or the year before and with the personnel losses just from leaving the roster free agency trade Bregman Tucker and then just the the avalanche of injuries to the pitching staff. You can always quibble with individual decisions a manager makes and people will carp, well, why is this guy in our lineup and how come he went to that reliever when he didn’t do the job? It’s all part of the job. And in the big picture, the spotter results are are very good this season. Um, you know, Seattle comes from seven games back and obviously barely behind the Astros now. Mariners gone to to win this division. Dan Wilson in his first full year as a manager. Uh, he’ll have a worthy case. But Espatada, there’s no reason to say, “Oh, come on now.” If if you wanted to vote today for a spot as American League of the manager of the year. Yeah, I I don’t have a lot on this. I think it’s a spotted just with all the injuries, the expectations before the season started, the roster turnover, getting all these guys to get familiar with new starters and Pettis and bringing Cam Smith in and obviously doing a good job helped develop him because he’s still with the big league club and had a huge hit in the finale on Sunday. So yeah, all the injuries, losing Breman and Tucker, what they pulled off. Of course, they got to finish the deal. They got to make the playoffs, but it’s assuming they do, I think a spot should win it. Yeah. Hey, man. The only thing I would don’t want to hear is revisionist history because now that Kareah is back on the team. Oh, well, they got the band back together and that’s why they’ve won. BS. Uh, the band has not been together uh for the entire season. In fact, I’ll consider the band back together when Yordon Alvarez can actually swing a bat in a live game. Um, now Aspatada, while we’re talking about him, he’s going to have to keep his finger on the pulse of this pitching staff because the bullpin has that we’ve talked about that’s been called upon a lot as of late. It’s going to have to probably do some more heavy lifting in the Red Sox series as we got the news that Christian Javier gets the ball to open that series, uh, followed by Spencer Arrigetti on Tuesday. Uh what do you guys expect that we’ll see from Javier? Um and how do you think uh Joe will uh who Joe you will call upon to eat some of those endings? Josh. Oh man, it’s going to it’s going to happen. So just get ready for it because as we’re looking at what Javier’s been doing in his three rehab starts with Sugarland, 10 walks in like nine and two/3 innings. I mean that’s going to kill you. if he can’t find the strike zone, he’s going to be out of there quick. And then you remember too, Eric Getti’s going to be pitching the game after him and he’s still trying to get his pitch count back up. So, that could be real challenging for, you know, your your bullpen options for those first two games. I think you’re just going to have to just kind of push through this right now. These guys are all kind of coming back. It’s going to take them a while. So, you’re just going to have to ask a little more from your bullpen. you know, some of your your your leverage guys, they’re going to do their thing, but it’s going to be some of these other dudes like your Neryses of the world and your Caleb Orts, like these guys are going to need to eat up some innings for you. I think that Ochre, too. He’s been really good this year. He’s kind of, I think, more of a trusted option these days. He’s more towards the back, but you get the idea. They’re going to have to rely on these guys. And they have some of these starters. We saw Colton Gordon warming up in the Yankees game. So, they have some guys that maybe their roles are going to shift a little bit as uh this team gets healthy. at top the Red Sox lineup. If he’d been up a month earlier, Roman Anthony would be strongly in the American League Rookie of the Year race. Nick Curtz, he spotted the league three weeks, but he’s a runaway choice at this point. But Anthony and Bregman, couple of disciplined hitters, tasty pitches and and and take walks. And whether Bregman reminds them that Javier can be devastating when he’s on, you’re not a super command guy. He can be a high pitch count guy. He does walk, guys. 15 and 14 innings in total as he was building it back up. Um be at a different level of adrenaline of course as he goes to the mound on Monday night. Uh I think the odds are are quite good that the Astros don’t get a couple of six inning starts from Javier and then Harragetti. If they can get at least five from one they probably take their chances and you turn it into a bullpen game started by a starter perhaps on the other. Colt Gordon’s lost a spot in the rotation. So, he’d be a long man uh candidate if you needed someone to to give you multiple innings, you know, and they get through the series. They get an off day Thursday. The Astros then play 23 games in 24 days, their last kind of marathon stretch of the season. 10 days in a row, one off day, then 13 more days in a row. So that rotational depth is going to be tested and it’s not like they all need to be great, but you know, keep you in games, give you a few innings so you’re not getting into sort of your your second tier bullpen guys who I’m calling everyone but a Breu and hater in the in the fifth inning. You know, you want to get at least into the to the sixth, ideally the seventh, right? The whole philosophy is king in the seventh, a bru in the eighth, hater in the ninth when they’re winning. Uh you just can’t, especially when it happens at back-to-back games. You get a starter who goes three and two/3 because he gets roughed up or or goes, you know, four and a third because he’s thrown 97 pitches. So, it going to be a very challenging month. Astros and Mariners strength of schedules the rest of way are are pretty even. So, in the end, simply may the better team win. Yes. And I it’s so funny because I think you while we look at uh we we were hoping that that seven game cushion that they had in the division would hold up to where they wouldn’t be in this position where it’s so close right now, but here we are as they’re getting ready to face uh Boston. The Mariners go to, you know, they’ve been feasting on that soft schedule. They get another cupcake matchup versus the Orioles in Baltimore. Do you guys anticipate this division race now just comes down to the wire? Or do you think more likely than not that Seattle has one more of those infamous losing skids left in them that gives Houston some breathing room at top the division? Mariners absolutely could have a dip, but the Astros could have another one. The Mariners have the definite better starting pitching depth at this point, and they’re about to get Bryce Miller back, which will give them all of their five expected starters. Remember, Miller’s missed six weeks. Logan Gilbert missed two months earlier this season, so they’ve had some issues as well. And the way they fortified their offense when you go player by player, the Mariners have the guy you take as the starter over his Astros counterpart at the bulk of positions. We’re in the dog days of August. No slippage yet from Cal Raleigh, who may actually have momentum to shoot ahead of Aaron Judge in the MVP race. Not like Judge has fallen apart, but he missed 10 days on the injured list and the Yankees are in the tank if they miss the playoffs completely. I mean, Cal Rally is still on pace for 60 home runs. He is a catcher and won the game for them with a three-run homer on Saturday. Uh, if he does not fade, I would give the Mariners the slight edge in this division race at this point. Yeah, I think it’s going to be right up to the end of the season. They’re they’re an improved team. They’re playing great right now. They’re they’re feeling themselves. Astros are got a little bit of that going too with Kareah coming back and I just think you really need Yordon. When they announced the Javier news that he was returning, I was that they were teasing that we were getting injury good injury news. So I was thinking, oh heck yeah, maybe Yordon’s going to be back, but no, it’s Javier and well, it’s great to have Javier back. I get it. We need pitching. I’m a big fan of his. I mean, we’re talking about Yordon Alvarez. It is wild that we look back and a third of August is gone. Dude hadn’t hardly played at all this year. I mean, it’s really, really amazing how far this has gone, how long this has taken to heal, but I think they got the shot here. I I think Praa getting everybody infused. Altuve is playing better. I think that’s what’s kind of cool, too, with Craya coming back. I think this is going to help Altuve as much as anybody. You could tell he was kind of down about losing Bregman and maybe the direction of the franchise and not quite sure. And then you see Jim Crane double down and go, “No, no, no, Aluve. I got you. I’m going to pay Koreah. I’m going to bring him back. We’re going to make a run at this thing for the next few years. We’re going to be in it. So, I expect us to come down to the last few games of the season. These are two really good teams and it’s going to be fun to watch. Yeah, had a really big July. So, it’s not like he was down in the dumps, but clearly getting Koreah back was was a jolt. And Yankee fans will never learn. Keep poking in the little bear. You know, I know he’s more pooh bear than some pig grizzly, but you boo him and the fu chance. They think they’re going to hurt his feelings. They should probably present him a key to the city, give him standing ovation just to mess with his head. So he’s what’s going on here? Because they boo and then he just beats their brains in. Six for 11, three walks, two home runs in the in the series. Um so you know, the Astros and Mariners are 5’5. So they’re so close in the division. You throw in the series remaining in September at Dyken Park. The winner of that series, you can’t split it. It’s a three-game series. The winner of that series, if it’s 2-1, automatically gains a game and takes the tiebreaker. So, you know, I’m not going to say the winner of that series wins the division, but the winner of that series, it’s a clear leg up relative to the other 45 games or so that we don’t know what the outcomes are going to be. Yeah, Josh and I were uh during that the text exchange on on Friday. Uh Josh was just saying how different this feels with Koreah back in the fold and him and paired up with Ali. It’s just I don’t know there’s it just seems and and obviously like things could unfold differently as you know there’s still a lot of games left to be played but the I don’t know the vibes just feel different. It feels like a a vibe shift going from where they were to uh where they are now. Final thoughts before we’re out the door, guys. Early this season, the Astros had a a phenomenal record against teams over 500. They still have an outstanding record against teams in first place at the time the Astros playing them. Uh but as they slumped and and went nine and 16 in in 25 games, they did not farewell uh against good teams and the Red Sox series kind of the poster series of that where they got whipped up at Fenway. So do they get to balance the books on that a little bit, but then two of their next three series are against the playing out the string Orioles, right? The Mariners get them uh early this week. Seattle then goes on the road at the Mets at the Phillies. Two likely National League playoff teams. One of those two is certainly going to win the division. So, if you’re an Astros fan, hope that they have a a solid week at home against the American le East and I hope that the Mariners uh after getting through the the front of the week against the Orioles uh that they don’t have a real good road trip against the the National League East because if Seattle does that, you know, vibes and momentum second half, Julio seems to have it going. Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh maybe having the greatest season any catcher ever had. Um, but frankly, not because it’s good for what we do. I think it’s fun. The race goes down to the to the last week. Obviously, you need that final outcome of getting into the playoffs one way or another. And so, I’ll close iterating that the Astros remain in a very strong position, you know, four four and a half games up for at least the third wild card, even if the Mariners ultimately take the West. Yeah, I’m just I’m excited for this this Boston Red Sox series, especially game one. I I like that the Astros, we’re going to amp it up even more. We’re going to bring back Christian Javier even though there was talk that he might make another start in Sugarland and kind of Dana Brown wasn’t quite sure and Aspatada was thinking it would happen. So, I’m wondering if Aspata pushed for this and you kept Bregman returning. You got Koreah paired back with Altuve again. I mean, what an awesome night that is going to be at Dyken Park. I I’ve I’ve heard a lot of people that are, hey, I’m getting some tickets. I’m going to be there when Kareah returns. And now you got Javier starting Bregman coming back. Man, Jim Crane, I’ll give him this. He does have a feel for the pulse and what people want from this team and the commitment that Astros fans wanted and he’s given it to him. Man, I I did not think that he would do this. I didn’t think he’d go over the tax again, commit to something like this. And now Astros fans are going to be rewarded. That should just be an awesome atmosphere for game one against the Red Sox. The man knows how to put on a show. And I say Charlie stole my thunder a little bit on this, but it’s worth underlining the point again, which is regardless of the results of this series, obviously it worked out well for them, but regardless of the results of the season for that matter, it will never not be wild for me to watch Joseé Altuv’s uncanny ability to just channel jeers from a hostile crowd and redirect that into near superhuman feats at times. I I want to share something. The Talking Yanks account tweeted this uh during the game because people were just on and on about Altuve. Says, “Lu Jose Alui now has an 813 career ops against the Yankees. He’s better against 15 other teams. His 278 batting average against the Yankees is his 22nd best of the 29 teams he’s played against. He’s just good is how they ended that. So, when your rival concedes that you’re just so good, but you’re not even at your best against them, that is a one-sided rivalry, and you’ll love to see it. A quick message. If you’re interested in advertising your service or product on our show, contact our friends on the sales team by visiting houston.sportsmap.com/advertise. The link is also in our description. One last reminder, if you’re watching on YouTube, be sure to click like on the video. And if you listen on podcast on apps like Apple or Spotify, give us a fivestar rating while you’re here. Next scheduled episode drops on Thursday, so make sure you subscribe to the channel with those notifications on for Charlie and Josh. I’m Brandon saying so long. Thanks for listening. Have a great week. And as always, ghosts. [Music]

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