ASTROS POSTCAST: Houston Astros Downward Spiral Continues, Drop Series To Toronto Blue Jays

ASTROS POSTCAST: Houston Astros Downward Spiral Continues, Drop Series To Toronto Blue Jays

This is the Astros Post, your instant game reaction for the Houston Astros, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. [Music] Well, at this point of the season, nothing should surprise you when it comes to what the Houston Astros do out there. And oh, what do you know? They go out and get shut out in the finale against the Toronto Blue Jays today, losing these series in the rubber match of the three-game set as Kevin Gosman absolutely carves them apart all day long for a complete game shutout. And the Astros continue this downward spiral they have been in for well some time now as the time is running out on them to fix it and to hold on to their lead in the American League West. Hello and welcome to the locked on Astros postcast this early evening afternoonish whatever the Astros losing today. Uh which is always very very very exciting to do a show after they lose. You guys know how much I love to do those. Yeah, I’d prefer to do the win all the time. Today’s show is brought to you by 5Hour Energy. Enter for the chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any tournament in the USA. Visit 5hin.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary excludes the Masters tournament. Ends October 31, 2025. Well, I’m going to go ahead and say this. You’re probably going to be able to guess what we’re going to be talking about more than anything else from this. This is what you’ll be talking about. I mean, sure, we could be talking about the fact that the Astros went out there today and their pitching staff gave up six runs and that Christian Javier didn’t look great and that he had some issues at times and all those things. But the thing that you’re talking about, of course, is the fact that they went out there again and worse than the first two games, they somehow won one of them. They got shut out today. Now look, Kevin Gosman is a really good pitcher. He has great stuff. It’s probably not been a year that he has loved in terms of the numbers that he has put up for the Toronto Blue Jays this year, but he has really good stuff. He is absolutely incredible at getting ahead of guys. I mean, you saw it all day long. it I can’t I would like I didn’t I meant to early in the game I started to remind myself I need to you know like mark down how many times he got up 02 I mean it felt like every batter he’s ahead 02 and I thought it was really interesting today that the Astros you know this is a team the Astros are a team that typically um goes out there and swings the bat early in counts I really thought they would attack him more early and I didn’t feel like they did that necessarily which was odd to me at times Then they had a few at bats where they did they didn’t get results out of it. They did hit some balls hard. Of course, those balls that are hit hard go right at people, but it’s the same storyline that we’ve been dealing with all year. The Astros can still win the American League West. Do not get it twisted. You know, I know people love I I look, I see the optics as well. They are playing horrible baseball. Horrible. There is no reason to have a lot of faith in them even turning it around right now. I don’t have a lot of faith in it. Nothing that I’ve seen and I we brought up the number the other day since they swept the Dodgers back in July, that July 4th weekend, they’re like 10 games, 11 games under 500 now since that point. There’s no reason to think that they’re going to be a good that they’re going to win games like at a rapid pace the rest of the season. None. They’ve given you zero examples as to why they are capable of doing that. And the biggest reason why all leads back to and it’s cra I mean they went to the deadline and they decided the deadline which was the re which was exactly what they needed to do. They needed to target hitters and they did that. Jesus Sanchez has been n he’s had some he’s had some stretches where he got really hot and then he’s had some stretches where he’ been incredibly incredibly cold. Kareah has been a beyond solid pickup and return. That was a really good trade and is just a utility player, you know, and honestly hadn’t done a lot at the plate. Eventually got Yordon back, but it all gets back to the same thing. So many guys, they have a very average lineup and they put up very average at best results this year in terms of offensive numbers. You just go look at the American League West, which by the way, now the Astros are a half game up in the AL West over the Mariners thanks to the loss today. They will play tonight, the Mariners will, against the Los Angeles Angels. So, go Angels, go. The Astros will probably be staring up at the Mariners uh by the end of the night, or I should say looking directly at the Mariners by the end of the night would be my guess. Um, but here’s to hoping. Soraniano is going for the Angels tonight. He’s been pretty good for them. We saw him what he did to the Astros. But honestly, I feel like you and I could go out there right now and at least get a couple of outs against this Astros lineup based off the way that they’re going. But at the end of the day, they cannot win any games. This is stating the obvious here, if they don’t score consistently and they don’t look like a team that’s dangerous at the plate at all, which is exactly what this team looks like, a non-dangerous team every time that they go up there. Every time. Every time. Paying isn’t a huge funk. Duron had a, you know, not a very good series there, but he gets some slack because he’s been so incredible lately. Korea had a good series up until today. Jose Altuve is in an absolute talk about downward spiral right now. Jose Altuve is in one of those. He’s like two for his last like 35. Horrible. Horrible. Jesus Sanchez not been great lately. Yiner had a great first two games of the series. Didn’t give you anything today. Christian Walker. You know, it’s the same story as it’s been all year. He’ll have a couple of games here, a couple games there. The overall um production this season bad. To be honest, I don’t know why you’re starting Taylor Tremill anymore at all in the outfield. It’s a waste of time. And then Dubon, you know, getting starting center field today. He’s there’s a reason why he doesn’t play every day in terms of his bat. But there was one thing in this game that was this time to reveal where the game was won or lost. It’s the turning point. It was the first inning and it was the defense in the first inning. Javier comes out. Now look, bad luck. Dribbler from Springer gets off the mound. Actually makes a good play. The throw is online. Takes a funky hot hop off the lip for Walker. Tough scoop. Can’t scoop it. Springer’s on quick double or yeah quick double gets he gets over there to he gets all the way to third base. They score eventually with another double, but Sanchez in right or I should say the popup just outside of the infield which could have given the Astros a chance to keep it one- nothing in the game and maybe you breathe a little bit of side relief and you know maybe it injects a little bit of life back into you. But it was immediate. I mean you’re down two nothing in the first inning. Pop up beyond second base. Got Pena going towards it. You’ve got Sanchez coming in on it. Jeremy Pñena has to take charge in that situation and Jeremy Pñena has to make that play. He has shorter ground to cover. I know that the outfielders coming on to it. It’s a hard sky with the with the sun today. A lot of sun there in Toronto down on the field, but Sanchez had to run dead sprint all the way in to get it. Now you watch the replay. Sanchez is barking for the ball. Shouldn’t have been shouldn’t have done that. Period. And the Astros, like any other team, operate off, whoever calls it is going to get it. But that was the turning point of this baseball game today. When they went out there and that happened, you just knew. You be honest with it. I knew it, too. When that happened, you said to yourself, “This game’s over. This team’s not going to overcome this. They don’t overcome bad things ever. Why would they overcome this in the very first inning?” The only positive that came out of it is that Christian Javier was able to get deeper into the baseball game today. The Astros now don’t have a day off until I think next Thursday. And Javier today was able to give you six innings and then McCullers gave you the last two. And of course, McCullers and Colors fashion. Now, I know one of them was unearned, but still uh goes out there and gives him a run. So, there’s that. I said this a while ago and I’m going to keep saying it right now. I am not having any fun watching the Houston Astros play baseball right now. And I know that you guys aren’t as well. And they should not be having any fun playing baseball right now. Whatever it takes to fix the mindset to change something, they’ve got to do it. But between the arms falling off in the bullpen and in the starting staff and the production across the roster in terms of at bats is just been so bad that right now the faith is absolutely dwindling that they’ll even make the postseason when October arrives here in a few weeks. They have a big weekend in Atlanta and they have to make a statement in Atlanta and we’ll talk about that statement in a brief moment on the Locked on Astros postcast. They could use a spark of energy. A lot of you could. Time to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour energy transfusion. This grape, ginger, and lime flavored shot brings the iconic taste of a golf course savor to a non-alcoholic boost. 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That’s why you should give Neutrifll a close look. Neutrifll is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth uh supplement brand trusted by over one and a half million people. And it’s not just hype. This is a supplement clinically tested that targets the root causes of thinning and shredding with a proactive approach. Uh see uh thicker, stronger hair with less shredding in just three to six months with Neutrifll. For a limited time, Neutrifall is offering locked on MLB listeners $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to neutrfll.com and enter the promo code locked on MLB. That’s neutral.com. Promo code locked on MLB. Bad times continuing for the Houston Astros. Welcome back to the Locked on Astros post. I’m your host, Michael Connor. Thank you for joining me this afternoon. Of course, you’re looking for this podcast. When it comes to the audio form for those of you that are watching on YouTube, you just go and search Locked on Astros. Anywhere that you get your podcast, you will get this show. And of course, the daily podcast, which is hosted by Eric and Brett. Make sure you’re checking out those guys as well. They’ve got plenty of work for you when it comes to the Astros. I’m sure that they will be talking later tonight or this afternoon about another loss for the Astros here today and just how bad things have been going for the Astros because that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. They are, as you see in the title of this show, in a downward spiral. And I think the most frustrating thing about it for me when it comes to all of that is that if there has been one calling card to this Astros team in there, as we have all called it for years now, their golden era of Astros baseball these last 10 years now, it’s always been that this team has been insanely clutch in September and played their backsides off in that final month of the season and really secured some division titles and secured ed playoff spots early on in it and played their best baseball going in. They got hot at the right time and we all kind of led ourselves to believe that they know when to turn it on and how to turn it on when September gets here. And for the first time in this Astros golden era of baseball, this has been the exact opposite of that. They have not turned it on. They have not played their best baseball. They don’t look like a team that’s inspired. They don’t look like a team that feels the urgency. They look like they’re going through the motions and they’re getting zero results every single time that they go out there. It feels like even when they sprinkle in a win here or there. And they’re again giving away a American League West lead that at one point this season got really big. I I have to go back and look at the exact number, but there was a point in this season where it got up there and they could very well tonight at the end of the night be tied with the Seattle Mariners as we do this show. Again, this is in the middle of the afternoon. Mariners play later tonight, West Coast time. I will not be staying up for that one. Good luck to those of you that want to stay up and stress more because I’m sure you’re already stressed enough as it is. Uh, when it comes to what the Astros have given you, the largest lead on the season, I’m sorry, I was just looking it up here real quick. They got up seven games. Seven games after that Dodger series. up seven. And here we are, September 11th, 2025, and they are in a spot that is not good at all. Man, oh man. I hate doing it like this. I absolutely do. I typically would have to give out a player of the game today, but guess what? The Astros scored zero runs, had two hits, and their pitching staff gave up six runs. I don’t have a player of the game today. Literally, nobody did anything. So, there’s no player of the game today. What I am going to do though is take a quick look at the Atlanta series coming up for this Astros team. They’re heading down to Atlanta for three this weekend against a Braves team that has nothing to play for. Still has a lot of talented names across that roster. Still can hit the ball over the fence. Still can do a lot of things even if it has been a wildly disappointing season for the uh for the Braves this year. You cannot overlook that at all. That team at all. They’ve not played great baseball of late. That’s typically what happens when you’re almost 20 games under 500. But if you just think you’re going to walk into town and take two out of three easy just because they’re bad and you’re not as bad, you’re mistaken. They have to absolutely at a minimum take two out of three. And it’s hard to request this for any team, but this team right now needs a sweep of a three-game series in the worst way possible because when they come back home, they’re coming back home to three against the Rangers and three against the Mariners. And guess what? It’s not just the Mariners. I’ve only talked about the Mariners here. The Rangers are two games out in the West. They just came off of sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers, who have been the best team in baseball this year. You have to be worried about all of them. And if you don’t, if you go down there, let’s just play worst case scenario here. Let’s say you go down there because I don’t think they’re going to lose two out of three. I mean, look, the Astros in this series, or I shouldn’t say get swept, the Astros will toss Frobert or uh Hunter Brown tomorrow night, fr. They’ll get a win in one of those two games. But if you drop two of three to Atlanta, I mean, I think you have every expectation at that point that this thing’s done. I really do. I really, really do. Because you’ll have, again, six games against the two teams that you’re battling with now before you head out on the road one more time to play the Athletics and the Angels to wrap up the regular season. It’s trying times. You know, again, in this golden era of Astros baseball, there’s never really been a time like this for the fans to sweat it out like this and to feel this bad this late into the season. And that is where you are at. That is the reality of the situation for this baseball team right now. Of course, this weekend when they do play the Braves, when the games wrap up, we’ll be live with the Locked on Astros postcast. 6:15 start tomorrow night, 6:15 Saturday, 12:35 on Sunday, Central time, uh, our time for that one for all of those games this weekend. And thank you to all of you that spent some time watching live today, those of you that watch later on as well. We appreciate you. Don’t forget to come back and watch again. We’re live after all the games. Hopefully, we’ll have better results to talk about against Atlanta. You guys enjoy the rest of your Thursday night. We’ll talk tomorrow live on Astros Post.

The Houston Astros took one step forward on Wednesday, just to take one step back on Thursday. Michael Connor breaks down the series loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on the Locked On Astros Postcast.

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