After HUGE Astros sweep, Houston faces BIGGEST series of the season!

After HUGE Astros sweep, Houston faces BIGGEST series of the season!

Welcome to Stone Cults. I’m Brandon Strange with Charlie Polo and Josh Jordan. Go follow them on X at Polo and Josh Jordan 975. On today’s episode, the Astros may be the walking wounded, but they’re still healthy enough to push a broom as the silver boot stays in Houston another year. Speaking of boots, Yordon’s in one, which is just the latest obstacle between Houston and the division title. The Hot Mariners are on deck. We’ll preview that series and see SCA what happens. See what I did there? Uh before all that, just hit like on the video. Uh the Astros need your support and uh we do more than ever. So uh you can help us by hitting like on the video. Subscribe to this the channel to see SCA more of our episodes in your timeline. Uh ring that bell like the Undertaker tombstoning the Rangers playoff hopes. And so uh also so you know when new episodes drop uh which are now premiering at 12:15 uh on Mondays and Thursdays. Just in case you hadn’t noticed, come watch live with your friends. And we’re also on all your favorite podcast apps where you can listen to those episodes. Just search Stone Cold Astros. Charlie Josh, welcome in. Uh it was a daunting task going into this series facing Lighter Kelly and Deg Grom. Uh with the Astros countering with Alexander, bullpin game, and Javier. The arms did enough for Houston, albeit dicey at times. And uh the offense hung 17 run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run run runs on a Rangers team that’s also short-handed and hobbled but were pesky nonetheless. Charlie as is the tradition. We start with you. What were your thoughts on the decisive leg of the silver boot series? It’s a resultsoriented business and you know it’s only half the job for the week but it actually creates a little breathing room. I mean, what an awesome showdown looming with the Mariners, whether dead even, Astros uh up one, winner of the series is the favorite to win the division, right? Obviously, if either sweeps, it’s command position, but two out of three, you’re in first place. You have the tiebreaker going to the final six games of the season. Rangers dead in the water. I guess credit to them for their pluck for all of the Sturman and Drang and rightfully so here with the Astros puny offense for so much of the season. My goodness, the lineups that the Rangers trotted out against the Astros. Um, you know, if it was sumo wrestling, having Jock Peterson and Rowdy Tles right in the middle of it, Rangers might have had a better chance. Uh but the Astros offense had to stand and deliver and it did against Mel Kelly who’d pitched very well for the Rangers since being a deadline acquisition from Arizona. And then they got to Jacob Deg Grom multiply with the long ball. Jose Altuve’s biggest hit in months. Uh Jeremy Pena coming very much alive after having faded from about 325 to sub 300. Well, he takes 305 into the Mariner series on base constantly. the last two games of the series. So, it’s a very good feelgood time, especially with the Mariners blowing a game uh on Wednesday night. The Astros know the worst they can go into the series is tied for first place with Seattle, but it’s two out of three falls in old school wrestling terminology there for you, Brandon. Uh, whoever takes the series, it’s not the last laugh, but it’s the definite upper hand going to the the final lap of the race next week. Yeah, my big takeaways were you got the big hits when you needed them. The offense continued to score some runs. You’re getting five or six runs. You can deal with that, right? And so you got run production. You have your pitchers doing a good job. They roll the dice on the back of their rotation. You go through Alexander and Blue Ball and Gordon and Javier and you managed to get the sweep, save your top three guys for the next series. I also think it’s nice to point out they did win the Braves series before this series. So, two se two series wins in a row. Maybe starting to build a little bit of momentum. And then for me, as far as the offense, it was all about the top of the order coming through in this series. Jeremy Pñena, seven hits in this series. Kareah five hits in this series. Now, Altuve only had two, but he had four RBI. So when when he had the hits, they they were big. So to me, that was a a big big crucial thing for the Astros. Get guys on base. Turn this order. Stop chasing balls in the dirt. And you saw that against Deg Grom. They were much more selective than I expected them to be. I thought his location was a little off too. I think that played part of it. But I was I was impressed with the Astros ability, especially a guy like Yiner Diaz picking up that that big RBI two RBI hit there early in the game. you know, he’s a guy that’ll chase all over and against Deg Grom for him to actually square one up there down in the count. That was big to get that early lead in this game. And of course, the bullpen, you didn’t have all your normal guys, but but they got the job done. So, just typical Astros, Altuve, when it matters, these guys step up. Little things can always mean a lot, but this time of year in this specific race, and then there’s the wild card race, and oh, by the way, the race for the second seed. and buy which is renewed for the Astros and Mariners both with the Detroit Tigers ship listing terribly all of a sudden. Uh but they put the Grom on the rack in the first inning Wednesday. A 35 pitch first inning. And I say little things mean a lot. If the roles have been reversed from an Astros perspective, there have been a whole bunch of people screaming, “Holy hell, Katini was struck out, right? The 3-2 pitch caught the zone. How will baseball be different next year when you can call for a review? Katini gets the walk instead of strike three, out three in the first inning. And then Yiner Diaz puts hard contact on a two strike pitch. Uh Deg Grom, I’m sure, is saying, “Why didn’t I give him a chance to chase? He chases everything.” Uh but Yiner, who can hit the ball so hard, there’s so much in him for a chance to be a truly great offensive force. Well, that was a great at bat, a two- strike hit. And even though it was not a lead, the Astros held the rest of the way. Getting off on the right foot against Deg Grom, giving Javier a little room to work with. So sweeping away the Rangers. Look, the players could not care less about the silver boot. But for the fans and the marketing departments, this was all about not only averting potential disaster, right? The Rangers had come in here and swept the series. Uh the Astros would be on the critical list. The Rangers had taken two out of three. Astros would have been in serious trouble. Well, the Astros take all three and to boot, they keep the silver boot for like the 48th year in a row. It was a matchup of wild pitching by the starters. Um, and it looked shaky when Javier coughed up the two-run lead in just a half inning, but he locked in. I think it was nine consecutive batters retired after that. And um, Tuesday night was a much larger larger lead that De Santos and Abrau almost gave back. Abrau, you know, we know he’s volatile, always can flirt with disaster, usually is able to clean up the mess, but he’s had some rocky outings uh at his last several outings. Um, do you think he can get this together? Can he Is this just a release point thing or is are the innings starting to stack up for Brian? I reject the idea that he’s worn out. If so, then he’s not in sufficient shape. barely going to top 70 innings. Um, you can just hit a little funk. I mean, he was awful in the game on Tuesday and they were able to survive it. He’s had multiple shaky outings the last couple of weeks. Maybe there’s a little bit of that between the ears. The three outs in the ninth inning, they just come with the tougher moments sometimes than getting those setup outs in the eighth inning. I don’t know what goes into it, but that he can get back to being brilliant. Sure. Now, he’s been poor in multiple outings. But was 157, 165, one probably due to have some slippage at some point. Uh I would think mentally and perhaps physically that he likely wasn’t even available Wednesday night. They certainly didn’t use him. Then the Astros with the off day Thursday. So, two full days off for Abrau going into the Mariners series where unless it goes off the rails, you expect the Astros will want to use him in at least two of those three games and then they have another off day coming Monday before six straight on the road. So, uh a Breu should have enough in the tank for a finishing kick. It comes down to you do, you don’t, you will, you won’t. It does. It’s the thing with Abrau is he’s just he’s not as pinpoint accurate as Josh her. He relies a lot on that wicked slider and it moves so much it can be hard to to throw for a strike when you need to. But Abrau is also one of those guys where he’s kind of like McCull’s where sometimes you feel like he can command his slider better than he can command his fast ball. And very often we see a Bru fall in love with his slider when he can throw 99 miles an hour and and guys get a little too they they can just guess slider. I think the other big thing is the walks especially early in innings. You see that with the Astros every night and you even saw it in the finale. They just got lucky that how many times do they walk the leadoff guy and very often that leadoff guy is like the nine hitter. They they did that in the finale as well and you see that with a brau also and he’s not a guy that’s super fast to home plate. So when he walks that guy there’s a good chance he’s getting a second base. So then you give up weak contact or a little bloop or something and the game’s tied if you only have a one-run lead. So I I think that’s a big thing with the Brayu. But as we’ve talked all year, he’s your best option right now. You just you got to hope for the best and get him out there. And he’s got tons of playoff experience. So, you know, these moments shouldn’t be too big for him. But yeah, it is the ninth inning. It’s a little different mentally and it’s something he’s going to have to adjust to and we’ll see with her there. You know, we’re seeing that it doesn’t look like he’ll be back in the regular season. Maybe a second series of the postseason. I don’t think he’s even throwing yet. I don’t hold out much hope that Josh her is gonna come save the Astros this year. I think you’re gonna have to go with the Brayu and all the other guys, but Brian King did a really nice job. Ogre scared me. Comes out, walks a guy what I was talking about earlier, but in the end they got the job done on Brian King. Just to quickly amplify a stat I had not seen that unearthed heading into the series finale and Josh, you alluded to it. Okard a very dodgy eighth inning. Huge double play ball. Yeah. Angles, right? It’s not like Langford hit a little dribbler. He hit it on the button. Routine double play ball that set up the escape hatch. But it was Brian King who found the trapoor to get out of the inning with the fly out. Two out, two on, tying run at the plate. Brian King now has come in with 22 runners on base during the course of this season. Not one of them has scored. No other reliever in baseball is clean with inherited runners with more than 13 left stranded. Brian King 22 for 22. That’s the definition of perfect. Yeah. And he does look a lot better. I know there was a time in which, you know, he had lost it a little bit. He seems to be finding it at the right time. So hopefully that trajectory continues. Um, it’s when I’m when we’re talking about a Breu, it’s not like a guy like Ochre where if Ochre blows up, you’re like, well, he’s been good, but you feel like he’s been pitching above his head. You, it feels like a combination of a guy with a certain kind of stuff that the Astros pitching coaches can tinker with and get the most out of him. But you weren’t expecting this sort of production out of him this season. But with Abrau, uh, you know, that’s just a guy who you really need to be locked in. I mean, he’s he’s the last you you talked about hater not being there. He’s the last, you know, outside of Brian King, he’s the last vestage of a leverage reliever you have. So, you really need that guy to find it. Um, one guy they’re not going to find in this next series is u well, Yordon. It’s it’s the one-legged elephant in the room. uh his health and how se fleeting it seems to be. Uh he’s out for the season, but they are hopeful they can get him back for the postseason, which is just that’s the chorus that’s just get sung so much as of late. Um Eusen’s had to do it basically all season, but how do you think the Astros fare closing out the season? Sanson. Well, it’s the short run. So, they could score 19 runs this weekend against the Mariners. They could also score seven in the short run. Predictability, volatility. Uh Josh mentioned earlier, right, the top of the lineup needs to produce. It did in spades against the Rangers, right? If Altuve is sat up in his coffin, what perfect timing for that. Pñena the igniter at the top of the lineup. Uh Kareah, you know, still taking called third strikes and not driving the ball, pulling the ball with authority, but I think Carlos Koreah understands where he is. He is patient and will go the other way and fight in at bats. Uh haven’t been drawn many walks, although he at least has been running deep counts as we we’ve talked about some. Um, but whether it’s in three games or over 162 games, your leadoff hitter, your number three hole hitter need to be productive if you’re going to have a good offense. And Pñena Altuve in those roles with obviously Yordon not coming back as the Cavalry. Um, if he makes it back at all by the end of the regular season, frankly, I’d be surprised. They’re holding out hope. That’s why they didn’t put him on the injured list. You’d have to miss 10 days and there were 11 days left in the regular season at that point. So, they have what they have. It’ll either be good enough or they’ll come up achingly short. But let’s note that going into the Mariner series, the Astros back to 15 games over 500, 84 and 69. So, a 6 and3 finish. There would be nothing miraculous about that. It would get them to 90 wins and that absolutely would get them into the postseason in one form or fashion division winner probably at 90 or at least as a wild card. It’s going to set him back, Brandon. There’s no way around it. Yordon’s one of the best hitters in baseball, but it’s not like he’s been around for most of the year. When they built a lot of this lead, he wasn’t here. And there is a possibility. We’ll get into this a little later. Maybe there’s some help coming along the way to to help the offense. We’ll get into that here in a little bit. So, Charlie’s right. You got three series here. It could go, you know, any different ways. In baseball, there’s that’s so few amount of games. The offense could do great. Let’s since the top of the order took care in the Ranger series, maybe some of the guys in the middle to the bottom of the order can get hot. I know Jesus Sanchez has been struggling and it’d be nice to see Christian Walker kind of get hot again. But I think with Yord on to me, it’s more of a big picture issue, guys. Is I mean, we just have to think back to last year when he slid into second base and we didn’t even know if we were going to have him for the postseason. And when we did, he wasn’t 100% at all. And that was just sliding into the base. And then I think of a few years ago when he was out in left field and he had that scary fall where his, you know, his knee kind of crumpled and we were terrified. And then we didn’t see him playing a whole lot of left field after that. And then you have what happened here where he slips on home plate. I just I don’t I hate to say it. I’m just is he just kind of clumsy? You know, he’s a super great athlete, but I mean, when we have remember the weird asthma thing in Atlanta where with the fireworks were going off with the smoke and he had to be he just has so many weird he’s like McCull’s but an offensive player, but he’s actually on the field more and more productive. I I I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets hit by a champagne cork here in the next couple weeks. So, I’m just in the the big picture, guys. I worry the Korea edition and having Pedes for next year may be very important because we have to enter a real reality here that Yordon may not be a guy that you can really count on at the end of the year going forward. He’s just so injuryprone and and even if it’s not at the end of the year, he’s already a guy that misses a good chunk of the season as it is. I don’t think that’s going to get better as he continues to age and rack up more injuries. Charlie, where are you at on that? Because I that was honestly where I was going to go next on this. It’s just and I I hate to bring that up because it’s uh you know, I I don’t want to pour cold water on a positive outcome. Astros sweep the Rangers. So, we got positive vibes, but that’s it’s a big deal. And it really does I mean, is is this just a freak occurrence this year? Cuz he’s never missed this many games. Is this just a freak occurrence? Um or or is is like Josh saying, is Josh concerned valid here that this is headed the wrong direction with Yordon? Well, as you add lines to the resume of time missed, I mean, let’s remember, go back to the COVID season. He played two games and then needed knee surgery. He’d have missed the rest of that season. Uh he did play a career-high 144 games a year ago. Well, that’s looking like the aberration rather than something to build upon. You’re going to wind up playing about 40 games uh the following season. He’s 28 years old now. I mean, he is a big guy. The bigger parts, but they’ve been some of these the whole hand stuff, the the chronic hand issues, it just kind of odd. Some guys can, I suppose, just be starcrossed. But if you this miss this much time, the contract that seemed like just a joke of a bargain for the Astros at under $20 million per year. Attendance is part of the grade and Yordon for 2025. I mean, it’s a it’s a Dminus. Um, will we see him if the Astros are back in the postseason, but then does he have to ramp back up again? Right. It took several games in the minors and then he got back to the Astros and hit .449 the first 12 games. It wasn’t as soon as he was declared healthy, okay, he went in the lineup and just started murdering baseballs. So, it’s exasperating, but in spite of it all, here they are going into the penultimate weekend of the of the season in in first place showdown with the Mariners. And you know, this isn’t two years ago it would be, oh jeez, kind of wish the series was on the road. Absolutely. much better off having home field advantage for the most fundamental reasons. Last licks, right? You’re the home team. You come up last and if you get to extra innings, the import the value of being the home team regular season rules with the silliness of the the free runner on second base to start it out. So, uh it’s just fantastic. Personal opinion, of course. Mine happens to be right on this one. Uh baseball races, good baseball races down the stretch. No other major league sport can touch them. team sport for the drama, the day in dayout intensity, the scoreboard watching that comes with a baseball race and the Astros and Mariners are in a humdinger. And as I said earlier, you know, if the Tigers are going to continue to falter, oh my goodness, maybe the AL West team winds up with a buy as the second seed. And on the downside with the Astros sweeping the Rangers and killing them off completely, not just taking the series, even if the Mariners take two out of three and uh-oh, the Astros are playing the short stack in the division. Well, look where Boston is. Cleveland’s still two behind in in the loss column. Uh the Astros are in a favorable position for the wild card even if the Seattle series doesn’t go swimmingly. Well, Josh mentioned help possibly being on deck here. What he’s referencing obviously is Isach Paredes uh with the potential to be activated uh during the Mariner series. Look, Pedes is a guy like Koreah that can draw those deep counts. So, how much would a returning Pedes help offset the loss of Yordon? To me, it’s all about thump. If he’s right, you know, he’s going to see a lot of pitches. He’s going to get a B on base a lot. He had the highest OPS on the team until he got injured. So, if he’s right, those Crawford boxes for him, he was your home run guy before he got hurt, too. So, I if there’s anybody that can kind of, you know, ease away the possible loss of Yordon on this Astros roster, it’s getting back Pedes. But in three games, we could dig up prime Babe Ruth and he could go one for 12 with eight strikeouts. we could not have to dig up Brad Osmus and he could go seven for 12 right in this short stretch of games. I will say as we look to Seattle specifically, I think a bit more pressure on the Astros in the Friday game because Hunter Brown goes and if you drop the opener with Hunter Brown on the mound, but then maybe From revives his season, but if he doesn’t, then wow, Jason Alexander going in the Sunday game. Mariners, however, Hunter Brown or not, Seattle drops the opener, right? The Mariners have the burden, the weight of all the heartbreak the Astros have administered them in in recent years and Mariner fans will all be looking for ledges. You know, they’ve won the division since since 2001. Uh but the Mariners are going to have three of their horses lined up. all-star Brian Woo in the Friday matchup, George Kirby coming off a 14 strikeout outing Saturday, and then Logan Gil Logan Gilbert who can be straight up nasty. And going back to where we were at the beginning of the season, even when Yordon was present and accounted for the lopsided right-handed hitting nature of the Astros lineup. Woo! Kirby Gilbert righty righty righty back of the Mariners bullpen. Andre Munoz who at this point he rates the edge over Brian Abrau off overall performance and recent performance. Nasty righty. Matt Brash is their number one setup man. Hey gave it up to the Royals uh Wednesday. But another righty. So uh the Mariners all their right-handed pitching. Can the Astros right-handed lopsided offense do enough? Of course it can. Will it? Yep. Uh we will see. Uh I mentioned that gauntlet of starting pitchers that Houston faced against Texas and then you didn’t know what to expect out of that. They fared pretty well against those three guys. And then you outlined the battery of Woo, Kirby, and Gilbert they’ll be facing in this series against Seattle. Besa besides scoring more runs uh than them, which is obvious although challenging for this lineup for the reasons that you outlined, Charlie, what are you looking for from Houston uh specifically to take the series from the M? Well, we talked about the top of the Astros lineup and Pñena, Kareah, Altuve, they need to do the the heaviest lifting. Ditto with the Mariners. Um, if not task one is pretty high on the list, keep Cal Raleigh in the ballpark. And he’s not hitting 230 since the All-Star break, but he’s kept pounding home runs. It’s really unbelievable that a catcher has set the record now. He passed Mickey Mantel earlier in the week. 56 home runs for Cal Raleigh. He’s a switch hitter. He has tremendous opposite field power. Uh, against a right-handed pitcher, he can hit a pop fly that gets in the Crawford box. He can also go second deck in right field against Framber. You turn him around. From better have that curveball working and better be keeping the ball down uh in the zone. Uh but they’re leading off Randy Rosarena these days. He has some history tormenting the Astros as does Julio Rodriguez who as usual second half Julio’s a hell of a lot better than first half Julio. So that’s the one two three in the Mariners lineup. It would be an oversimplification to say whoever gets the better of the top third of the lineup, Pñena, Kareah, Altuve versus Arosena, Raleigh, Julio wins the series. But it’s a pretty good leg up for whoever gets the edge. I’ll be curious to see how Jobata kind of uses his lefties as Charlie was pointing out. How’s he going to deploy Sanchez? Is Zack Cole going to get some opportunities because he’s a left-hander? Keratini has has had some clutch hits for this team this year. here. I know he’s a switch hitter, but swings from the left side against these righties. So, can the Astros manufacture some left-handed on base percentage and power to to go along with their top of their lineup and try and offset those dominant right-handed starters for the Mariners? Let’s note Mel Kelly, Jacob Deg Grom, right-handed starters for the Rangers, and the Astros got to both. And uh Seattle, whether it had a stretch of the yips uh on the road, they were having a brutal road trip before winning two in a three, two out of three in Atlanta to stop the bleeding, just as the Astros won. Two out of three in Atlanta to stop some bleeding. Uh but their starting pitchers almost to a man had been way better this season in pitcher friendly T-Mobile Park than they have been on the road. Obviously, Dyken Park, a much more home run friendly hitter haven than things are up in Seattle. So, look, it’s a it’s a three-game series. It’s a heavyweight fight. These two teams are not Ali Frasier at their peak, but they’re battling for the heavyweight championship of the American League West. And this should just be cra I frankly, I hope they’re three tremendously close games. Yeah. Um I don’t I hope the cruising get it. Yeah, and I hope they sweep him in a laugher. Um, but I I think for me, I think my focus is really going to be on the bullpen because of how volatile the starters have been. Uh, Ochre needs to keep up his production. U, they’ve got a guy in blue ball that’s really come out and shown that he can put long stretches of relief together for this team and and uh put zeros up. They need that uh to be the case. Hopefully they don’t need him to piggy back anybody in this series, but it’s nice to know they have that should someone come unraveled. He’s been a breath of fresh air for that bullpen. And then the back end of the rotation, the the leverage guys, they need to lock in and and be able to hold leads if they have one. So, um, that’s what I’ll be looking for. Final thoughts before we jump out. Just uh on AJ Blue Ball, you know, could he loom as a huge factor? a guy who was terrible in the minor leagues most of the season. By the way, he’s been fabulous in his 20 some odd innings with the Astros. With the off day Thursday and another off day coming Monday, they will not need a fifth starter until the next to last day of the season, a week from Saturday. So, they can uh aggressively and for multi- innings deploy Blue Ball. If say Framber really struggles and you want to go quick hook as early as the third inning or heaven forbid Hunter Brown it’s 102 pitches and he’s only gone five and a third right Hunter Brown last two starts 107 108 pitches is two max uh pitch counts for the season. Uh but Blue Ball as their best multi-ining bullpen threat. I’m not saying you can pitch him three innings Saturday and bring him back for another four innings on Tuesday if you need him. Uh but there’s absolutely the chance to have him go several innings in a game as necessary and not jeopardize his availability as a starter, you know, and have to go Jaden Murray full-on bullpen game when that Saturday game against the Angels rolls around and could have huge stakes attached to it. For me, I I’ll just be hoping that the off day really helps the Astros just kind of recharge. And it’s it’s a home off day. So I on the broadcast I think they said they hadn’t had a home off day since way back in August. So I think it’ll be good for these guys to kind of sleep in their own beds, be around their families coming off a nice sweep of the Rangers. Now focus all our attention on taking care of business. Let’s go out there and beat the Mariners and finish this thing out. Yeah, it’s it’s been a volatile season from being 20 games over 500 to having one of the worst records in baseball over a two-month span. Uh, I’m interested if Houston can recapture some magic in this final stretch. You know, Josh talked about u being in this position and getting hot at the right time. Can the Astros get hot at the exact right time and really make a strong closing stretch that can really instill some confidence, some much needed confidence in this team? I know they’re veterans. I know they’ve been through the wars, but they’ve seen, you know, how this has played out. They know their struggles at the plate. This is a great momentum boost coming out of the Rangers series. Uh can they keep that momentum? Can they continue this this run and finish strong at the end of the season and make themselves look like a contender? And then all these guys that could be returning, I think that becomes that much more meaningful. Uh, 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. Charlie and Josh, I’m Brandon saying so long. Thanks for listening. Have a great weekend. And as always, ghosts. [Music] [Music]

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