The Houston Astros need to capitalize on schedule

while the Astros is rest we prepare for the Chicago White sock series we give you an update on how Justin Verlander doing as he pitches while we do the show live and we'll talk about how the Astros can go forward and continue their winning ways let's go J Diaz this is lck on Astros hello and welcome to locked on Astros your daily Astros podcast here are your host Eric the man Heisman and Brett htown wheelhouse chansy we are locked on Houston Astros and we hope that you join us for daily locked on Astros podcast thank you for making us your first listen on Apple Odyssey Spotify wherever you listen your podcast go and check out the lock on Astros podcast uh thank you for everybody who has become every dayers become make us part of your daily routine go ahead and subscribe to us make us your first listen on Apple Odyssey Spotify wherever you listen your podcast go and check us out my name is Eric Heisman H he is Brett chansy and today's episode is brought to you by my favorite which is prize pick which uh H is down here at prize piic it's the easiest as most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports it's all on your phone just go to prize.com lockon use the code all over case locked on MLB for first deposit match up to $100 Brett I know we don't like these days off but it's really good for the bullpen it's really good for a bull a rotation that desperately needs Justin Verlander to get back right yeah definitely and we'll actually show y'all some footage of a couple strikeouts and a ball a ground ball that was hit back to him that he had to make a play on um you know he looks good out there um tonight and and that's a good sign you'd love to see that look you can find me at h house on X Instagram and Tik Tok find me at stros 411 on X on Facebook BR me back to the bullpen on YouTube on ihart Radio and on X and Instagram look I'm always positive always stros and you know that I'm really really high on this team right now three games up because the Detroit Tigers thank you bless them bless AJ bless jav bayaz bless everybody in Detroit and Chris castellani thank you he told Houston you're welcome on on X and I said you're one of the good ones I said Chris I know you talked to AJ before the series and he knew the importance of it so you love to see it because on a day when you're off you you have no control over what happens but you at least want to gain a half game well now it's three solid games I literally put out an AL West update completely forgot they had a day game and I was like the Astros are two and a half games up 30 minutes later they're three games up so going into this weekend um we got the players weekend I got the sweet players weekend hat right here I you know I like these hats I hear they're not doing the nicknames this year but I hope if they do a variation of the uniform that it's not cheesy hopefully they'll do a good job I haven't seen any mockups or leaks maybe y'all have but I'm excited Eric with where this team is with where they're going Justin verland on the cusp of a return and if they get that six-man rotation going because they only have like three off days after after this week they only have three off days in the next like four or five weeks so they're going to need their rest they're going to need that sixth man right and Justin verland will be coming back pretty soon hopefully Kyle Tucker is gonna be coming back pretty soon uh Brett we all know about my Alex bregman bobblehead that I broke uh during the show uh live on air but somebody a student broke my KY Tucker bobblehead during class during school today and they threw the legs across the room to not get caught and uh they kind of stood up Kyle Tucker and so it's so ironic that it's actually the leg that's hurting him right now so this is what it looks like oh wait oh that's wait is that the leg that he has hurt right now no yeah so you can't see it but it's but the shoes are off wow so so the leg separated from the shoe and it they're both off so um I'm gonna put a wanted poster up on my wall and say wanted information for who killed KY Tucker's leg so wow well hopefully hopefully when you're hopefully when you're students will do a solid for you and maybe maybe get you another one or or maybe someone will donate a Cy Tucker lifestyle bobblehead for you I suspect I know who it was somebody that was giving me a box of tissue that they brought and they just put on my desk and didn't see the bobblehead but I it was an accident I don't think it was a big deal but unfortunately uh injuries happen even to bobblehead and so I know the Astros are waiting for Justin verland to come back we're waiting for the completion of his game with the Corpus chrisy hooks but I know that go back what how many games about let's say about 40 something games ago the Astros lost a terrible game to the Chicago White White Soxs and it was so embarrassing that uh I think they played they called a players only meeting and they're like look we lost to the worst team in baseball and they won the next two games afterwards but it was one of those situations where it was terrible and so since I didn't look back to the last two games of the White Sox series but since the White Sox series the Astros have scored 225 runs to the opponents 168 runs they are at that time they were 36 and 40 they were down seven games after the White Sox series uh s till now they are 65 and 55 up three games in AL West it's unreal I mean Eric when you and when you look at their home and their away record there's I mean everybody's been struggling at home but the Astros really haven't been the Astros have a winning record at home and there's a couple clubs that are a little bit better than them at home but the but the home record Eric if it was as bad this year last year as it if it was the same as it was last year this year the Astros wouldn't be in the situation they're in so I mean sorry as Red Sox they they have a terrible uh home record and they are where they are because of that yeah exactly I mean those guys could be at top the AL East I mean it is it is an absolute Gauntlet but um I I you know and I know we're in the dog days of summer I know we're not yet at the playoff stretch just yet but Eric at some point we've got to look at we got to start looking at some point the competition that we have and you know the Orioles are a great team but Eric they're relying on young talent unproven in the playoffs they're relying on their pitching staff who I don't like Grayson Rodriguez is good but he doesn't have a he doesn't really have playoff experience Corbin Burns is like the only guy that really kind of worries me in that rotation um the Yankees you never know how they're going to be in the playoffs now look Aaron judge has hit his 300th home run I don't know if you know this he's the quickest of 300 home runs ever and then until Alvarez does it oh you're right you're right until Alvarez does it I like the Astros Spin and then Juan sto hit three home runs in a game first time he's done that so the Yankees scare you from an offensive standpoint but if you're going to go to to toe and he talk about pitching as long as the bats come to play as long as the bats as long as the GU hit we've got the horses in the barn we've got the pitchers to go out there and I think the AL is the Astros to lose at this point if we get Cal Tucker back we have Justin Verlander back we have our guys working really well in the bullpen I think we're the team to be if I'm being honest in the A and I'm not being a homer I I'm looking at everything objectively um and I don't know that wotto is 21 anymore I think he's actually 22 no he's gota be at least 23 or 24 by now oh I know I know is like one is probably really like 45 yeah just like Miguel Tado was a couple years off back then oh yeah just a few just a few retired at 59 yes so since that time the Astros are 29 and 15 and I don't see them slowing down and the reason why I bring all this up they face the white socks again they're in a slightly different situation so they're now three games up uh they're on this great winning streak and so uh eight games so the Astros are in a different point in the season and I know the white socks sometimes when you play a bad team you tend to play Down to the level so to speak you maybe kind of look past them to the next opponent the Astros don't have that liability right now they have to go ahead and the Mariners are playing bad baseball right now they got swept by the tigers tigers might be good in a few years but they're not good right now and so I think you need to go ahead there's blood and water you got to go ahead and just go for the you know what and just take care of business and that's winning ALS you got a three- game lead don't let it get below three games from this point get up to eight game lead and that way you don't have to have that stress you don't have to worry about all this stuff and uh just it's don't make it hard on yourself and we'll go and continue this conversation about the white sock series next and um just building the lead and I want to hear your thoughts about that as well this episode is brought to you by liquid IV when you're taking in America's pastime don't forget to hydrate with liquid I V's popsicle firecracker flavor a Sure Fire summer hit get hydrated with electrolytes essential vitamins and clinically tested nutrients from the number one powdered hydration brand in America because baseball and summertime go together like liquid IV and indulgent hydration if you go to liquid i.com get 20% off your first order when you go to liquid i.com and you can get hydrated like nobody else Blast Off the summer with other flavors like aaya Berry lemon lime and Pac Cola find all your favorite flavors on their website today now what you want to do is realize there's no more thirsty Summers you can indulge in hydration with liquid IV get 20% off your first order of liquid IV with live Hydra science an optimized ratio of electrolytes essential vitamins and clinically tested nutrients to turn ordinary water into an extraordinary hydration 20% off your first order with the code lockin Mo at liquid i.com guys thank you for making the lock on Astros podcast your first listen every day whether it's on YouTube go and subscribe to us make us first listen on Apple Odyssey Spotify wherever you listen your podcast go and check out the locked on Astros podcast go ahead and make his first listen on your Amazon Fire TV stick go ahead and listen on go and watch us on YouTube go and subscribe to us and there's so many different ways to watch our show listen to our show I even had a student today that said uh Mr Heisman I thought I recognized your voice but then when you kind of mentioned that you had a podcast I was like oh yeah I I listen to your show every day so uh we are everywhere and we appreciate everybody that makes us every uh that calls yourself every day uh go and check out Michael Connor over at the lockon Astros postcast as well go and check out uh Sully over at the lockon Astros sorry locked on mL postcast no wow so locked on Astros he might I think he's more of a Mariners fan to be honest he's look look you know you know so's a baseball guy and and he actually doesn't always have something bad to say about the Astros he was cheering for the Astros when we had Dusty Baker at least right so a lot of people have been wondering what's been going on with Kyle Tucker we can take a live look at what's going on with Kyle Tucker's like and it's this is a non-medical diagnosis of Cal of what C happened to Cal Tucker leg I thought we put it together earlier I guess we didn't have ironic is it ironic or sign that it was his leg that broke not not his hand doing the H not his head falling off it was his leg Yeah wow man oh my gosh I'm surprised that that's the only thing that broke do we do you need do you need to like bury that so you don't like have like bad juju because I I think that's his wait is is that the leg he fou it off of um yeah oh wow that's interesting I was like of all the legs to break it was that one so um someone uh Jay is asking us what is danzo's natural position isn't he wasn't he a third baseman yeah third baseman and he played some first um but I think they're putting him at first because they want they want the options at first base look I think you run Diaz you keep Diaz's bat in the lineup by having him at first base by having him at DH and by having him at catcher you keep him in the you keep him in there does senzo can fill in for bregman if they need to give bregman a rest at third um and you know you don't necessar have to put him at first because he actually looked he didn't look great at first base but training on the job for a first base position in Major League Baseball is not exactly the most ideal condition to learn unless you're just a superior Superior glove guy and not everybody is I mean baseball's not an easy sport yeah and if the Astros are going to play Diaz a little bit more at first base uh they might play disenzo a little bit more either at DH or they might play him a little bit at left field because I know that some of y'all in the chat are talking about Chaz McCormick um who's not really been producing a lot recently I know that he's been a big topic of discussion and at some point the Astros are going to have to make a decision Jake Meyers his production I mean he had some key hits recently Jak Myers but Jake Myers at least puts up competitive at bats Eric right Chaz Chaz is lost Chaz has lost the plate right now yeah so the they're trying to find some ways they can't have Alvarez and Outfield at all times they can't um it was cool that they had them play five straight games but they're not going to do that they want I mean in certain ballparks you can get away with it but in the big ballparks you can't get away with him in Outfield I'm not saying he's a bad left fielder they trust him in the playoffs and the playoffs are the biggest games out there so I think that it's just a matter of they want to protect his legs they want to protect his health overall so he will be playing some left field but he's not everyday left fielder uh you're going to see disenzo probably get some starts eventually in Outfield they they would just want to see what he looks like but see you're just probably see him a lot in the out in at first Bas and you'll see Singleton because they don't want him to get rusty at all either so you know Eric um you were asking me before the break um about you know building a lead it is so important this this series I'm sorry you you you don't you don't have to sweep the series but by golly you really should sweep the series I mean there is no excuse you've got you've got arag Getti knock on W you got arag Getti Hunter Brown and fber Valdez I believe um going in this series and so if you got those three dogs up there and they have been pulling their weight you bats you better be there you better support them um they're the pitcher that kind of shut us down last time he's he's not even pitching I forget who it is someone someone sent me a text said hey the guy that kind of wrecked us last time he's not pitching um I think it was that rookie guy and crochet has not looked good since the trade deadline um their pitch I mean they haven't done much of anything I mean they they are that has got to be a tough thing to do day in and day out now I I guess maybe if you play a good team like the Astros maybe you're motivated it gives you some extra motivation at the end of World Series yeah there's no reason though why you should I mean if you can beat the Rays a better team in a 10th inning game where you only score two or three runs and most of the game you only had one run you should be able to beat the white socks the white socks are historically bad I I mean they are just not a good ball Club right now um they might get more competition from the space from the from the Sugarland Space Cowboys those dudes have almost 80 wins under their bu they're killing it you know they're going to be in their League Championship Series this year for the first time that's actually really cool but um I was excited about Justin Verlander start tonight do you want to save the Justin Verlander clips for the third segment yes uh cuz Brett I was told that MLB pipeline ranked the Astros 30th oh I saw that I saw that yeah well okay rank is 30th we'll still have the most homegrown talent and we'll still have guys that actually come out and you know what you're welcome Blue Jays for developing will Wagner because he pretty much was developed by our system you just called him up to the majors we didn't have a spot for him and he went three for three in his first game that was crazy good job for will Wagner wish him all the luck but the other players when they go other places unless they're just Superstars like a JD Martinez the other clubs don't do much with our guys it's it's really strange Seth beer all I mean I could name five or six guys that went to other teams and I mean Gilbert and those guys that went in that you know Verlander trade they haven't done anything the guys that we traded for grinkie they haven't done anything nobody develops players like we do rank is 30th that's fine we'll just produce no names and get guys from car washes like ronell Blanco and dominate the competition I prefer that yeah and uh I think that if you're looking at what the Astros do they take um they may not have the big quantity of top talent like maybe the Orioles or the Rays do but they they have certain players that you can count on and that's what they've been able to do kind of like what you were just saying they have the right players that they can bring up and I've heard uh even back then when we traded seph beer I wanted him to stay here because we all to be beer 30 in the back and get that Jersey or something but you know you know he hated that idea did you know yeah he doesn't drink and he I actually heard him he hated that idea I I thought it was great myself but anyways go ahead go ahead sorry but I've heard that a lot of people said that he was actually over um touted as a prospect and that they they expected that it he wasn't going to turn out to be much more than a utility kind of a type guy so who knows they're called prospects and that's why you've heard the phrase uh parades over prospects because you can only win so many World Series but uh hoarding prospects can't help you too much unless you're at Orioles maybe eventually it'll kind of pay off for you but we'll go and continue this conversation next uh what do the Astros need to do for the rest of the year what did Justin Verlander do maybe his starts over in Corpus Christie or with the hooks not in Corpus Christie but we'll continue conversation next this episode's brought you by prize picks prize picks is America's number one fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members prize pick is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports unlike other apps prize picks is just you versus the numbers I play it Eric plays it we both enjoy it we talk about it sometimes we'll text each other hey man who do you got when you got more or less on this guy we'll consult each other so get in on the a daily with your friends like we do become part of the prize pick Community you can now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks you can turn $10 into ,000 right now um with the Finals over and the Hoops action doesn't stop women's basketball still in full swing Caitlyn Clark Angel ree the Major League Baseball playoffs are are here um NFL pre-season is here the Texans are coming if you're a Cowboys fans there here so the over under on touchdowns on offense so much more so download the price pick app today use the code lock. 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MLB on prize picks for your first deposit match of up to $100 pick more pick less it's that easy hey guys thank you for making lock on Astros podcast your first listen every day whether it's on YouTube goad And subscribe to us make us first listen on Apple Odyssey Spotify there are a million different options out there you can listen to Locked on Astros podcast thank you for choosing us and becoming everyday or go and subscribe to us make us uh your first listen and go ahead and give us a big fat thumbs up while you're doing it and go and check us out on your Amazon Fire TV stick just go ahead and search the free channels app you can watch Brett and I on your big screen on your big wall if you have one of those big projectors so there's many different ways to watch the locked on Astros podcast but um Brett I'm going to ask you this and let's see if you know this you might have seen this but which former Saun Award winners have pitched with the Corpus chrisy hooks former sa young winners have P pitched with the hooks yeah during rehab assignments during rehab assignments Dallas kyel Justin Verlander um I don't I don't know Rocket Man oh Roger Clemens oh yeah oh okay okay I I was well I was trying to think back did they have the hooks when he played were they did they I couldn't remember how long the hooks have been with the been in existence but um JV um actually finished his start tonight Eric um he finished with four Innings pitched four hits two runs one earned run five strikeouts 57 pitches 41 strikes so definitely not the 75 that they wanted which is interesting um I don't know if it had to do with runs or guys on base or the heat because they are up in Northwest Arkansas so there could be a lot of factors in that we won't know until he gives a postgame presser but um I've got a couple clips that we grabbed from um from Minor League Baseball we're going to show those a couple strikeouts and a ground out you want to watch sure go ahead all right here's the onew baz checks the swing called strike three fast ball Sears the outside corner and it's a window shopping strike out to close out the second inning first punch out for verin the onew swing and a Miss Lester down on strikes that's the third strike out for Justin Verlander tonight first pitch to Shrum back up the middle off of Verlander's glove he jogs back to it bare hands and flips it to first and that's the end of the inning one to three on the put out shum hit it 100 mph right back up the middle and the future Hall of Famer makes easy work of that line drive for the final out of the inning natural there we go the fans don't look excited to be watching Justin Verlander pitched or just I hear some fans in background and everybody else is just like well is this just another minor leager is this a just old dud they know who it is they know they know who it is I mean and I don't want to I mean I I know we have listeners in Arkansas so I don't want to go off on but but it is a it is it is dou I think if he was down in Corpus at Corpus I think there'd be a much more B oh yeah bigger buzz but um I would be curious to find out exactly why he didn't go because I think they said his next marker was 70 70 to 75 pitches um if I hopefully I'm not misquoting Joe spata but um I'll look into that while we're on the show see if I can find 75 pitches yeah okay yeah he was supposed to do 5050 in the first start then 75 pitches in the second start so oh no I was going to see if I could find out if anybody gave reason why he why he finished yeah oh there has to be some reason either he threw two main pitches in one inning or maybe he just said I feel good I don't need to throw anymore at this point when you're Justin Verlander you kind of dictate things and I think the Astros probably that he knows his body and maybe he just wanted to come out uh let's just hope it's that so I we haven't heard about anything like like he left the game with any type of injury or anything so I think it was just him just saying okay um skip I've had enough um I want to fly to Houston and get ready to make my next start with the Houston Astros hopefully that's what it is because the Astros are goingon to need him ronell Blanco he had a little scare um with the the comebacker but um app apparently xrays are negative he should be okay but um I wouldn't be surprised if he skipped in rotation so well I think I think he's going to have another start um his his his velocity was in the mid90s and um the whenever you hear pitchers talk about their rehab starts they talk about checking boxes and the and when I was able to talk to him this year he said the the final box to check after any Rehab start is the next day how you feel how you recover I think if he recovers from this I bet you he makes one more start and I haven't checked sugarlands or Corpus Christie's schedule but more than likely um if they come home he may get another start in one of the two places but I think they've got to get him up to 70 or 75 pitches before they throw him into a major league game um so you know um look they're gonna bring Justin back when he's ready you don't want him coming back too early because then if you if you rush him back he's not going to be there for the playoffs and you want him ready for the playoffs I just thank God this is not around the trade deadline they'll be like oh well um Justin Verlander this minor leager in Astro system was just scratched after only throwing four Innings so maybe he was traded or something so I'm just kidding there but um somebody asked in the chat about pin Murphy uh do we know that if he's a starter or not yes the Astros did sign him as a starter he's been on the I basically all season he is I believe he did make his first start the other day or he's going to make his first start but he may be a factor at some point Kendall gravan may be a factor hopefully Kyle Tucker after he recovers from his injury is going to be a factor at some point so the Astros do have some um people that can help them that are in reserves right now so I know we don't I know we make fun of Dana Brown saying well we've already made some trade deadline acquisitions by bringing these guys back but it's the truth they are bringing back some top talent pen Murphy I don't know if if he's going to be that type of impact to the Astros but what if he comes back and he's another piece of that Astros Bullpen I know Montero is not a name a lot of people like but he's he's uh doing some great strikeouts down in Triple A right now so well so here's the deal um pin Murphy did Pitch one-third of an inning give it four runs on three hits a walk 19 pitches 12 or strikes and for all tents and purposes it's a 12 strikes out of the 19 pitches that really matters the most and so remember on rehab starts you don't look at the results you don't look at if the guy gave up six runs or gave up a home run it's about his pitch shapes because especially someone like pin Murphy that is that is him getting ramped up it's basically spring training all over again for these guys and Justin Verlander use that term and I think if anybody like you said he knows his body it's Justin Verlander and Pen Murphy's a pretty good veteran himself as well so I think it'll do good now there's some rule changes I want to hit on real quick that are possibly being floated about the minimum of six Innings per Starter by Major League Baseball but in reading this article talking about it there are stipulations so if they put this rule in if a pitcher reached 100 in 100 pitches 100 if he pitch if he reached 100 pitches in a game if he gave up I guess over six runs I thought four runs oh okay four runs and then I think there's you know some other things if he's injured and and he has to leave the game but he has to go on iil immediately after the game right and then they're also talking about forcing relievers to go a minimum of five hitters instead of three so they're really talking about jacking with the game but the reason why Major League Baseball's doing this Eric is they're trying to look for solutions for injuries and they think if they start is forced to go at least six Innings they will concentrate on placement and movement versus velocity and throwing the ball thus taking the strain off the elbow and maybe reducing Tommy John surgeries but that's gonna be it's gonna be a big shift man because the whole league does it everybody does it well the one thing I like is you won't get away from the opener that's that crap is stupid I know the Astros have had to do it a few times Taylor Scott but uh his velocity has been down ever since they extended him from those three Innings so uh but the opener is bad for baseball I think I know some teams have to do it but um I think that's they're trying to get away yeah they're trying to get away from the bullpen games where you bring in a bull a different reliever each inning something like that and they're trying to just cut down on that and I they're also thinking like you said the maybe putting less stress on the arm because pitchers need to go deeper in games and so I see the logic there and it'll be I think the the players would be okay with this because the starting pitchers will be like oh this is good for me because this is going to give me more Innings it's going to make me more money so I think the The Players Association be okay with this the relievers will be okay with them because they you're going to have to pitch more Innings as a reliever so I think if this goes before the Players Association I think going to be okay with this now uh they're just going to be very careful about the stipulations they be like well what if this do we have to go on the aisle what if it's just a something a day-to-day thing why does it have to go on the aisle so I think some stuff that they're gonna have discussions well my thing is um I would I would ask them to extend the pitch clock by a couple seconds too I I mean if you're forced to go six Innings and they're they're and you're having a build your body back up and offseason you I mean everything's going to have to change your offseason training your pregame routine all that stuff right it's not the Nolan Ryan Steve Carlton Sandy kofax L Brock days those dudes were horses those dudes pitched a million innings in a season they had like 70 starts I mean it was insane what they would do their workload but their bodies were built for it and so that right there is just um what what rule comes next required pitch usage by well look I don't don't make Kikuchi throw the cball please yeah yeah Jay don't don't make any suggestions that you're not willing to support I'm joking um but no we're just saying this is an idea being floated this is not a rule change that is going to be enacted they're talking about it but it may be like it may be like the government talking about taxes you know hey we're gonna build Bill Y8 and once it's built we're gonna stop charging you well they still charge us and the price goes up every year I think uh somebody asked why do we keep on making all these rule changes it's because it's the CH change of detention span we have the um like the older generation uh they they're able to watch the the ball game sit through the the pitching changes and just be enjoying it but uh what baseball is seeing with the trends is that the younger generation they don't really like sitting through they don't like to wait a lot of people complain about commercials on the podcast and it's just like so many seconds and so we're talking about making shaving 30 to 40 minutes off a ball game so that's what um that's what Manfred is looking at I'm not saying I support all these I still think that pitcher the pitching clock is not in itself a bad thing but I think that maybe it needs to be a little bit longer just to prevent some of these injuries we've been seeing but at uh I don't it's one of those things it's out of your control and as a pitcher you just have to adjust to it and when Luis Garcia comes back back he's going to have to adj adjust to it because a lot of people think that because of that adjustment that's what led to his Tommy John yeah look um Mike Stanton will tell you all day every day well I'm doing that someone wanted to see my side patch so that's why I moved my hat to the side Eric why you trying you trying to copy me man you cracked me up dude all right no but seriously um we're going to wrap it up here thank y'all for hanging out with us it's going to be a great series um I will be there Friday night some of y'all were asking for going to be there I'll be there Friday night um you know hit me up on socials if you would like to meet up and say hi but I'm going to be kicking back just enjoying the game hopefully um maybe maybe getting a foul ball I'm I'm gonna be getting there early because I do want to get that Altuve uh 2000s Jersey that they're giving away Friday night so if y'all are there see y'all there uh meet me in the fifth inning St Arnold's Brewery behind left field I'll see and we can talk some baseball and guys thank you for making lock on Astros podcast uh your first listen every day go and listen to walk Walker Yanik this is Walker Yanik you're listening to lock on Astros podcast we will see you uh next time uh hopefully Astros can take care of business and we will see you later ghost [Music]