Astros: To trust Justin Verlander or not to

well the Astros swept the oh wait that was that was what I was working on this morning the Astros sweeping the Diamond Backs well pavin Smith happened and Justin Verlander I guess is still throwing spring training let's talk about it J Diaz this is L on Astros hello and welcome to locked on Astros your daily Astros podcast here are your host Eric the man Heisman and Bret htown wheelhouse [Music] chansy we are locked on Houston Astros and we update you join us for a daily locked on Astros podcast my name is Eric heising find me on X at Eric tostos Brett when you're not watching Justin Verlander out there throwing batting practice where can you find you at they you find me watching the Texans beat the Indianapolis Colts on the first game of the season found me at htown wheelhouse on X Instagram and Tik Tok you can find me at stros 411 on X and on Facebook and it back to the bullpen on X on iHeart radio and on YouTube tomorrow night Mike and I will come out with a new episode you guys have to check that out he's coming all the way back from Atlanta dude he was part of some alumni weekend thing there and they actually hit a walkoff that would have been fun for the Astros to do but hey we had Josh hater to come in and give up a run in a game that wasn't a safe situation so we always have that working for us yeah so guys thank you for making your us your first listen on Apple Odyssey Spotify wherever you listen to your podcast thank you for making us your first listen go and subscribe to us go and give us a big fat thumbs up and go and become everyday or somebody listens to our podcast every day we do appreciate each one one of you today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com to get started today I bet on YouTube TV you could actually watch the Astros play today on ESPN unlike Direct TV where you could not watch the game today but it's probably for the better I mean I didn't get to see how Justin Verlander looked but just looking at the stats and everything that happened this game I didn't really listen to it on the radio I was like you know what let me just this my be the night I go to ATB and do a little bit of shopping yeah um eight runs and three Innings right here Jesse talks about yeah Eric um the thing is it was it was a control issue um it was an issue where um he obviously was trying to locate his offspeed stuff because his offspeed stuff was outside of the Zone um as a hitter this is what you're looking to do you're looking to to eliminate any pitches you can out of the pitcher Arsenal so you know what's coming if you know a fast ball is coming if you know they're elevated if you know his off speed pitches are elevated that's what they're going to pick on and they just simply picked on Justin Verlander Justin Verlander did not look good on the mound he couldn't get comfortable he started to get the shape of his curveball there he started to get movement but it was down in the dirt and he wasn't fooling anybody um you know to counter him Nelson actually used to go with a bunch of different pitches and he it took him a little bit to get consistent I think he's five and0 o over his last five starts but Ryan Nelson really I mean this kid did what his what his pitching coaches like Brent stom have told him to do Eric because he threw um 564 seam he also threw this cutter so he didn't used to throw the cutter at all and the thing with Ryan before we got to him before he became this master pitcher in these last few games there was so much variation between his curveball and his change up and his for seam that he was getting hit so they threw in the cutter to because it missed bats and not it's not necessarily his best pitch but it's less of a ver it's less of a variation from a four seam so when you have a cutter and a four seam and then you're able to throw another pitches that's what allowed him to be effective again going back to Verlander that's why Verlander couldn't be effective because he couldn't get those pitches in the zone down and missing those bats and it just snowballed and wow like two home runs I mean to the same guy um one of them was a grand slam you know it was it was just one of those days look if they're going to go to a six mil rotation I guess we're going to win five games and lose the sixth almost guaranteed right now until Justin gets fixed or feels right I know the other day I did say that it's too early to give up on Justin Verlander this is like you mentioned in beginning this is spring training and I I don't want to back off what I said because at the time I said that they we need to be patient with Justin Verlander but this is the second straight game that he gave up eight runs uh he didn't have any strikeouts in this game to get through three Innings he threw 75 pitches uh he threw 47 strikes uh so this was a issue where like you said there was no command he's not fooling any by his erra is all the way up to 530 so there is a element of concern at this point I think the Astros have 19 games left if I did math right earlier so uh the Astros need to decide is this guy good enough to be in the playoff rotation at this point with what we've seen recently uh maybe the answer is no uh but I think it's uh he's got maybe what two maybe three more starts before you can honestly say yeah this guy is just not he's washed up he's not good anymore but I it's leaning towards he's probably not gonna get a start in the postseason but if you're if you're going to go with that logic what arti did I know he had that great month of August but he gave up all those runs in two-thirds of Annie so um it's kind of you have to look at what they've done long term arti had this long success this year uh recently he had one bad start so I think if we'll see how arti bounces back uh Verlander he he's had a long stored career but maybe this is the time where he has to say look ad himself in miror and say is this it am I done well look here's the thing um talking to Justin Verlander this year Eric I don't I don't think that thought even even crosses his mind this this is how he thinks of this game he looks at this game and he's not satisfied he looks at this game and he knows like look it's like Mike tells me all the time they're professional hitters when you make mistakes to professionals they hit him and they hit him really far and so that's what was happening tonight he wasn't hitting his spots and the the Dbacks pitcher was at first now the Astros he was vulnerable eventually the Astros had seen him enough they had gone through the lineup a couple times now they were picking up on stuff where they could see okay I'm looking for this when he throws me this he's he's going to counter with that and so they had a good Counterattack um if JB doesn't go off the rails um our friend Corbin said it earlier they miss it I mean they actually win this game six to five and Trevor's like why is everybody so down look I will say this we won two out of three in very convincing fashion against the Diamondbacks who have been one of the hottest hitting teams in BAS so the second game was a big comeback too they're down four to nothing yeah I mean it was it was really kind of a back and forth game um the Astros showed fight I mean look they scored six runs today so there's really no need to panic we get a day off then we Face Oakland here Seattle has a day off and they face the Padres right I like our scenario better than Seattle scenario yes but keep in mind I know if you look at what the A's have done the last 10 days it hasn't been great they're four and six but keep in mind that since the Astros have gone on their hot streak the second team with the best record in American League for a while there was the Oakland A's they have found a way way to play Better Baseball so does that mean that the Astros are not going to play great baseball no but this is a type of series that I call a trap series it's a the A's are a team that has played the Astros no matter what season they've typically played them pretty good and this is a different team this is a team that has been playing Better Baseball recently and my saying that the Astros are not a better team they are a better team but but that's why you play games but didn't we sweep them earlier in the year when we weren't playing great you see what I'm saying and we're playing a lot better than they are like you said four and six they've actually lost two in a row um I'm not I'm not worried about this Z series I honestly don't see why because Justin Verlander is not going to start no offense your your other pitchers are actually doing really well and the Padres find themselves in the heat of a major battle because in the National League Eric they lead the wild card spot they could if they if they well they're five games behind the Dodgers I don't know that they're going to catch the Dodgers the the padri have lost two games they are a half game over the Diamond Backs for for seaing so the Padre's want to win this Seattle and I'll have to look at their pitching matchups and we can do that tomorrow night look at ours and look and look at who who they have going I just like our chances a lot better yeah and um it's good to see Kyle Tucker back out there it's good to see the Astros rebound after a terrible series versus Reds to win two out of three versus a team that is into contention for the playoffs so we'll go and continue this conversation next thank you for making lock on Astros podcast your first listen every day thank you for tuning in to locked on Astros this episode is brought to you by FanDuel go to fanduel.com today it is America's number one sports book you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel well we got something a little bit different for you something that will please your listening ears and your watching 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every game right after the game sometimes it's when Brett and I are at work at school and so um I know the Astros lose some games they win some games but uh Brett you did some podcasts this weekend where the Astros won some games so the Astros did take two out of three from the Diamondbacks they played some great baseball and doesn't matter yes in the long run it does matter what Justin Verlander did but it's one game it equals to one loss and you would like to have won this game but just put it to as side and just go on to the next series they have a day off and that's why Josh hater was in this game it had nothing to do I know I know you know this but had nothing to do with a save or anything but it's just getting him some work before the day off but the Astros have got to play some Better Baseball we can't do this crap where we oh the reds are coming we're going to play the Reds they're not a good team let's go ahead and lower our expectations and go ahead and uh let them beat the crap out of us we had some gu guy named pavin Smith hit three home runs against us he almost had a home run cycle against us I didn't even know that existed um yeah so yeah a home run cycle it's it's a it's a thing and in its anomaly and you know I was I was kind of shouting at the tides earlier when it was like I was like why are we bringing in hater I didn't realize he hadn't pitch since the 30th of August so um actually was it the 30th of August yeah a hasn't pitched since August 30th and we are at keep in mind we've had some blowout get wins recently so the been playing baseball or losses okay see I didn't realize that so um yeah so man what do you do you just chalk it up you kick their butt for two games they kick your butt for one game you had a chance really in some of these Innings I mean things could have unraveled for Ryan as well and um you just you just did have enough in the tank to come back in the end but this is an offense that look I think it's the first time we've had this lineup for since like what two plus months Eric where we have um Altuve Alvarez Tucker and bregman all on the lineup at the same time I mean things are looking up folks and yeah it's G to take Tucker look Tucker got a single today I believe he did scored two runs he did get a walk he did get an RBI he contributed but he had no rehab starts he didn't have any chance to get his feet wet to get his legs out from under you know out under him all that stuff and so I think you're gonna see Kyle Tucker maybe start take off a little bit in the Oakland series I I think he's gonna use that as his launching pad tough to do against Arizona who has a very good who is a very good pitching opponent but have all of them in the lineup and Jer Diaz is still hitting um I mean this offense is definitely to be feared and Chaz McCormack Eric is contributing I mean you can't he played all three Outfield spots tonight too yeah he he he played right center and left um I thought that was interesting but yeah he's he's contributing good stuff man yeah so I know that um and you got to talk about it on Friday night or Friday Saturday morning but KY Tucker did play his first game and in his first at bats he had a very awkward swing and I was like oh no I hope he didn't hurt himself but it looks like the Diamondbacks were are not scared of him but they hit him in that game they also walked him in that game so they're still pitching him like Heath Kyle Tucker so that means that they still respect him enough even though he didn't have any rehab uh games and so the league is probably going to still him like he's Cal Tucker so that's a good thing and I see Joseph put this comment here um I understand trust me I want the Astros to win every single game Joseph he says that we need every game to get that uh buy I want that buy but at this point there's nothing we can do about this game when Justin Verlander gives up eight runs there's nothing your offense can do you could try like they scored six runs in this game like you said before the game Brett most times if you score six runs you're going to win this game but when Justin Verlander could consistently does this it's hard to rebound from this and I I don't know if Joe spot sits verand down and says look we're going for this buy we want the first round buy out of the Wild Card series we're going to go ahead and skip a start we'll go ahead and put ryell Blanco to start for you how do you feel about that and so uh because they I don't know what the Astros going to do because you're going still the team is still going to go with Justin Verlander and I think they're still going to give him a chance because of who he is this is not what Eric Heisman is saying this is what I think the Astros are going to do yeah exactly um right here um SFA Powerhouse says FIV man or six man rotation and basically they are going to the six main rotation period into story especially they get a day off that's good for them um they were they were able to skip a start with ronell Blanco um you know put him in the bullpen he did he did great Eric two in just look really really good um and KB saying do we feel like bregman is bothered about his contract knowing his elbows hurt no I don't think he's worried about that I think bregman is not a guy that has a hit like he's not like a Byron buckon right where he's like always on the io he had some issues but bregman is typically a healthy player he takes care of his body here's the thing he's a smaller frame guy smaller frame guys typically don't have a ton of injuries it's typically your taller guys Byron bucks's a really tall guy he plays an outfield position and those guys longer limbs the longer you are you typically have more injuries and and so I think bregman though from what uh I mean Chandler Ron went on a podcast this weekend and said he doesn't see chanler roome resigning with the Houston Astros but right now we can't even worry about that right now all I care about is bregman contributing he's contributing offensively is bregman playing third base yes like Jay mentioned he played third base back-to-back games hit a home run today almost hit if if he hits that ball about 15 feet to the left um late in the game he he scores two runs they make it even closer so bregman's contributing and he's feeling good you get the off day that's great right so health is the name of the game and winning and whether they get the whether they get the one or two seed or whether they get the wild card they just want to they want the division they want to get the division they want to get to the playoffs once they get to the playoffs there's no team in the American League that's more feared than the Houston Astros this player is is batting 294 with the Ops of 812 he's got one home run four RBIs nine walks and only 51 played appearances with the Houston Astros who is he Ben gaml yes this guy has been a totally different player with the Houston Astros and uh I I don't think anybody would have seen it so I think that Dana Brown uh he's been given a lot of crap this year especially for not adding the death of the rotation for all the injuries but I don't think anybody could have predicted all the injuries the Astros have had this year but I think this was one of the finds that I think will you remember the stupid Braves that beat us in the world series that year you had players like Ben gaml I mean I think I know that they were a little bit bigger names but that you didn't expect to help and I think that's what's going to happen here so guys we'll go and continue this conversation thank you for making locked on Astros podcast your first listen hm willhouse you were locked on Astros and eBay Motors is our sponsor today millions of parts for your MVP passion driving patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps you ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance from Super Chargers 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Fire TV stick as well just go and search the free channels app and you can go and search baseball and uh you'll find Brett and I and you can put us on your big screen your projector whatever you want to do to watch make us your everyday listen go ahead and do that so Brett I know we all gave Dana Brown I was kind of leading up to this we all gave Dana Brown a lot of crap for not upgrading the rotation but at the trade deadline he traded a lot lot of players and we're like no that's too much Kikuchi sucks Kikuchi has been a revelation for the Houston Astros and I I think we heard a lot of people across baseball saying that he had the best stuff of all the starting pitchers out there we saw uh we've seen other pitchers Go Everywhere I think Snell would have been a great addition to anybody but they would have to give up a lot of prospects but I think Kikuchi has earned his way onto the uh the start the playoff rotation if not the top three right oh yeah no yeah I mean look um someone was discussing playoff like who are your four guys and I'm basically saying that I've got Blanco is going to the bullpen I think without a doubt and then I I also think that you that you have to now this is this is my four for a playoff rotation and I know it's not going to happen framber Hunter Brown Kikuchi and erti but guys I'm just telling you right now um JV is going to be a starter in the playoffs I think JV makes adjustments I think JV gets better but the guys on the broadcast even said it JV is not going to the bullpen right JV will not this guy has earned his stripes he's not going to the bullpen and I know we've talked and I've even said like I'm not big fan of bringing JV back I'm not a big fan of like resigning him because of his age um but this year Eric it's inevitable and I've always said that I've always said that it's inevitable now if it were me picking the top four I would have to put Eric Getti in there instead of JV but you're not going to put him in the bullpen so I mean the question can be baned about but baseball is still about pecking order it's still about who you are and who you've been and yeah this is a back of the baseball card discussion but it would be had in 30 of the 30 clubs in Major League Baseball but look what the back of the baseball card discussion has led to we were patient with a lot of these players outside of Jose Abu and Rafael Montero but Rafael Montero is proving to be a much better Triple A Mon's well but Rafael doesn't really have the back of baseball card defense unless it's every other year but you know Eric at the at the end of the day um this team's going to do what is best for this team and J is gonna figure it out he will he will figure it out yeah Chris Reyes says oh Lord not the back of the baseball card thing but yes but the Astros were saying this team is good you just got to be patient and that's what we all had to do and now we're rewarded with the patience yes Verlander has sucked his last two starts yes Spencer Eric Getty gave up what nine runs in twoth thirs of inning whatever it was the other day but this team is on a roll this team has I know it's down to four and a half game lead over the Mariners after the Mariners won today but I'm not I'm not going to rule the fact that they can go on hot streak and catch up or at least put up a fight with the Houston Astros I think this is the you got 19 games left this is in the Astros hands you've got to play good baseball against the teams that you should beat like the ace the A's have been playing Better Baseball the past what 60 days but you got to say hey we're the captain now we're the leaders at AL West you are maybe three years from now go ahead and just let us beat you no the Mariners are supposed to be now this was supposed to be their year Eric with the with pitching they had it was I mean who would have thought that you would that you that this season would come down to the Mariners are legitimately still in the AL West Race but yet they fired their manager okay um but what I loved and I I actually talked about this earlier um actually over the weekend Eric and you mentioned Kikuchi there there was a lot of griping about how many players we gave up but all those players combined have they all three equaled seven wins for the Blue Jays I don't think so Kikuchi all seven games he's pitched the Astros have won now he wasn't he hasn't won every one of those games and he did still win after giving up some runs this last time Kikuchi has been a shot of energy a shot of adrenaline and the team gets out there and gets up for him and produces offensively he absolutely has got to be a top three in this playoff rotation because say when he goes out there on the mound the team wins and right I mean seven in a row is pretty hard to argue with I mean if they say look at the numbers look at the numbers he's mixed up his pitches you know um he got double digit swings and misses again um you know and I mean he gave up four runs and see that's where I think a lot of people wish that maybe look jph Verlander goes out there gives up a four or five spot no big deal but Eric this is the most he's given up in an Astros uniform and this is the second most he's given up in a single outing in 16 years right 16 years he's only this is the this is only this is the second worst outing I think he gave up nine in one other outing I think is a tiger but he's been very good his whole career age has caught up to Him Father time is undefeated so there's no one more frustrated and more pissed off of themselves right now than Justin Verlander right and he's going to make the adjustments he's done it before we've seen him do it before but is he does he have enough time he has two maybe three starts before the end of the season so Joe SP has to make the decision we've seen the Astros make tough decisions before um on who makes the ALDS roster the Wild Card roster in this situation you have to play three games to decide who goes on to ALDS the Astros want to avoid that so the you have to try to get that first round by do the Astros have enough time time to catch up to the other two teams in AL East and AL Central so it's just a matter of you got to try to win every game yes this was a loss today but it's only one game all you can do is go out and try to win as many games as you can but Verlander or whoever the pitcher is you can't give up so many runs at the beginning game because you can't you can't the offense is good can we arrange a meeting can we arrange a meeting where Eric can we arrange a meeting where Eric tells because Eric I've been in the same room with this guy and let me tell you Verlander is is intimidating as hell there like yordan Alvarez it's a piece no hey I'm just telling you yordan Alvarez it's a piece of cake talking to that guy he is so nice so cordial dude you walk in Justin Verlander's presence you feel like you're in Buckingham Palace and like he's the king like I would love to see Eric with the microphone Justin Verlander do you know that you're supposed to give up a lot of runs in the first Innings let me tell you iander could you boom no he wouldn't he wouldn't lower the boom but I look guys hopefully he'll figure it out we want him to figure it out we need Justin Verlander to have legendary performances because guys bottom line he's he's gonna make the playoff roster he's not going to get Mike fires he's not going to get left off this playoff roster Chad calls is this Chad qued yeah Chad qued um or Will Harris I think Will Harris got left off right did he get left off after night I want to say that he got left off one a roster somebody some there was some reliever that got left off well I think it was just the ALDS roster because they went off with a they wanted an extra hitter but I don't remember what picture was but um guys that's all we got for this edition of lock on Astros podcast tomorrow we will come back we look how good have the A's been doing recently are they a um like should the Astros not necessarily this year but should the Astros be worried about them in the future and what do the Astros need to do to win this series because it's all about winning Series going for the sweeps trying to get that by because you want that time off you don't want to be out there playing uh ball games and also is a good thing to actually have that because we've seen Wild Card teams go on and continue playing and then go on to win a World Series so we'll go and have this conversation my name is Eric Heisman he is Brett chansy we are the locked on Astros podcast we'll see you tomorrow and ghost Ros ghost and Justin berlander you can't give up a lot of runs to start the game that's bad Deep Thoughts by Eric