POSTCAST: The Houston Astros Suffer A Tough Series Loss

you are locked on Astros postcast part of locked on Sports Houston on the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day well not a fun end to the series for the Houston Astros after picking up a win in game one of this series they dropped the next two and in nonf fun fashion on Wednesday thanks to the bats doing absolutely nothing in key spots leaving Runners across the base pass all day long as they allow their Boston Red Sox to come into town and take two out of three uh over this first few days of the week hello and welcome to the locked on Astros postcast this afternoon thanks for stopping by appreciate you guys as always I am your host Michael Connor if you don't know who I am well I've been around for quite a while watching your Astros covering your Astros on the radio and now doing it here with locked on if you're new to the Channel please hit the Subscribe button we continue to grow every day and it's because of you great people hitting that subscribe button I am truly appreciative of it usually of late we've had good things to talk about with this baseball team but unfortunately today we do not excuse me have a good thing to talk about I mean I shouldn't say we don't have a good thing to talk about we will talk about Justin Verlander in a bit because overall good day for him right to return like he did today's episode of the lock on Astros postcast is brought to you by prize picks the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockon MLB and use code all lowercase locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100 so let's talk about the bat where' the bats go the bats did a lot of things against this Boston team what just over a week ago in Boston that was the 9th through the 11th now things can change in a period of time like that maybe the Astros that are going on a high are G to you know hit a little bit of a low for a second you can't really hit much of a low at this moment given the schedule that's coming up we will talk the Baltimore Oriol series which starts tomorrow four games set this weekend in Baltimore more uh here in just a bit but maybe they they're going to level out to an extent I I don't think necessarily that Baltimore by the way is coming off of a loss today uh in New York in dramatic fashion so both teams tomorrow will be looking for a win in that one but the bats just simply did not do their jobs I mean they had multiple opportunities to drive in runs today the biggest situation there at the end of the baseball game have The Bases Loaded uh what in that eighth inning and you know whether it's the bregman pop out or the yordon strikeout really the bregman pop out bothers you more than anything else you can't get overly mad I mean I shouldn't say that you can be mad about the situation bregman provided your only run of the day he had the home run to lead off the baseball game which is good to see but 0 for seven with runners in scoring position that's atrocious left Base today for the Astros well that's eight they out hit the Red Sox eight to seven now Boston's hits of course they had a lot of they one two three four of their hits went for extra bases two double or three doubles and a home run there they added the insurance there from Hamilton late with the home run but they drove the ball with Force the Astros today outside of the bregman home run had one extra base hit one that was a double for Mauricio duban you know when the Astros offense isn't good this is the issue is that they're a Slappy single team when the offense isn't good which you know again like the million time and you're not going to be perfect every day I get that you know I'm not asking for that I don't think any of us are asking for that I think there are some of you you out there as much as I love you um are a little bit too over the top for one baseball game you know I think it you do have to remind yourself it's 162 games and there are going to be days that you flat out go out there and you stink like you guys going to your job or me going doing my you know what I do now which is still a secret to you but look some days I go out there and I don't I don't have my best day in my new world I pick it up I figure it out I go back out there and I attack the next day with what I learned from the day before or I just flush it you know go back out there and just work hard at the next day they're always working hard of course but there's just some days that you go to work and you don't have your best day we're all guilty of that today was one of those days at times you do tip your cap to the pitching on the other side as always when they execute pitches and do their thing you know it's baseball it's the imperfect sport that you know drives you mad but brings you back we all love it when they're winning 11 of 12 and they're hitting the baseball over the park and they're playing Boston just a couple of weekends ago and they're crushing they're pitching left and right and that's really the the difference you we've seen it if you play that Boston team which they still win four- two against this season that's a look that's a good record against a team that has a winning records in the mix for a wild card in the American League it just always stinks when you lose the last two you win the first four to started and the games were still tight I mean yesterday you lose by a run today you lose by three but it's the opportunity when you look back on it that you hate we'll see how the uh standings look going into tomorrow the Seattle Mariners as we do this show live on Thursday afternoon just before 4:00 in the afternoon uh the Mariners do not play until late tonight 9 o'clock our time they're still in Los Angeles playing the Dodgers and by the way the Mariners will be off tomorrow so what you hope for is the Mariners lose tonight the Astros win tomorrow pick up another half game you'll forget about this one I I think this one lingers by any means yesterday's loss I think probably hurt more than this one but doesn't mean that losses still don't hurt the Astros go back to 10 games over 500 and good news too speaking of you know losing this series losing these games um some of those guys on that Red Sox team whether it's casus doing his thing at first in this series or Duran who just murdered the Astros for six g a little bit like yordon did overall against Boston again this year I know that today wasn't his best day and you know I don't know what to make it's one of those odies of baseball there's no science behind it it's just happens sometimes it's like when the Astros couldn't win games at home a couple of years ago like yon's been awful on at home this season compared to the road stats just one of those years happens but Duran just crushed them throughout this series I am happy to not see him again you can't completely write offse in this team again because they could be a wild card team they could meet at some point in the postseason but the odds are you know you're probably not going to see it see him see them again and you won't have to worry about him they just got to flush it they head back out on the road now it is a tough road trip in terms of the matchups but look the Astros are a good baseball team I know that they don't have a winning record against teams with a winning record this season they're close uh they could get above it on this trip technically seven game Road Trip they're four under 500 against teams with a winning record which look that's not good but a lot of that stems from early in the season the struggles early in the season against teams that were winning and now it's a little bit different they should still go out and win at least three games on this road trip and I would say at least four to be honest with you against Philadelphia and Bal timore we'll talk about the Baltimore series coming up in just a few minutes we also need to talk Justin Verlander his return today encouraging signs for Verlander today as he returned to the Mount we'll talk about that next right here on the lock on Astros postcast passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchar roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you're into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you'll always find exactly what you're looking for with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because of eBay Motors you're burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need the prices you want it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusion Supply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers locked on Astros postcast on a Wednesday afternoon thanks for stopping by whether you're about to kick out of work maybe you're working from home still if you're one of those people very very lucky uh consider yourself one of the Blessed because people don't get to do that as much anymore or you're going to watch or listen I should say while while not watching in the car on your way home whatever it is thank you for joining us today here on the locked on Astros postcast please hit that subscribe button to the YouTube page if you have not done that yet come back and join us after every game this weekend's gonna be a busy weekend for us here on this channel the Astros and the Baltimore Orioles four game set six o'clock across three of the four games the only day game coming on Saturday which is a 3:00 first pitch so Saturday is really the bus day for us on this channel uh we will have around that 3:00 time our final Texans postcast for the preseason before the regular season gets started we'll do that and then we'll do the Astros later in the evening so you get a lot of me in your life on Saturday be ready for that like I mentioned it's not just Astros on this channel it's Rockets it's those Texans it's the cougs it's a good time to be a Houston sports fan and I hope that you guys will join me for the ride for the rest of what 2024 has for us and of course going into 2025 trust me I've already mapped out the Astro schedule for next season in my head mentally going over some things logistically with my wife and everything because you know you always got a plan ahead I'm a big planner uh also if you're looking for this show on podcast you can go and find it anywhere that you get your podcast search for locked on Astros you'll get this show and the locked on Astros show that's Brett and Eric they do a wonderful job covering your Astros every day I'm sure they're not happy about what happened with the Astros I know I'm not happy about what happened with the Astros over the last couple day so check them out I'm sure later this evening uh when they do their Daily Show on their YouTube page you can go and subscribe to that or again find it on podcast anywhere that you get your podcast appreciate you guys for joining them and me on a daily basis really does mean a lot Justin Verlander back for the Astros today and I thought went better than I expected it to was able to get through five innings pitch count early on wasn't great you know it's okay kind of felt his way back into I think the thing that stood out for me the most today with Verlander was one he came back and he was able to throw with velocity there didn't seem to be any issue there you never saw any physical issues with him at all you know I think he settled in quite well and I I think the most encouraging part of his day today for Verlander was that I thought the breaking stuff was very sharp and you know when you have a lengthy period of time off where you don't pitch and he only pitched two rehab starts and that's it I mean he didn't pitch a lot in them I think he topped out at 57 pitches in the second one with the Corpus chrisy hooks but when you come back and have not done it a lot recently you know I think you can realistically expect there to be a drop off in terms of simple command of that stuff the sharpness not being there thought his slider looked really good he was able to utilize that curve ball something he used the change up too which has become a thing for him this season quite a bit you know I I really was encouraged with it and I think that you know I am always a person that likes to look class half full that's just I think that's just my nature you know everybody's got their own nature I'm not one of these people that loves to live in the negative especially when it comes to the Astros very often I like to acknowledge reality I think that's where I'm at I don't want to be in the negative but if it is a negative situation and it calls for acknowledging the reality I'm going to acknowledge the reality and I tried to do that with any evaluation that I have like whether it's earlier this season when the Astros look terrible and they look like they were done I was trying to live in the moment and evaluate the situation for what it was like I'm gonna evaluate the situation for what it is now with Verlander we know he's not the same pitcher he wants was he's not going to get insanely deep all the time he can like any great athlete that's had the career that he has they can bottle it up on one day and have a day he is beyond capable of that but it's not going to be the consistently dominant run that we've seen out of him for years he's G to be 42 in February his body's beaten up getting beaten up every year now like it's just a fact but they don't need him to be that dominant guy would it be great of course I think I when I talk about the glass half full type of guy is is that I look at the situation does it suck to not that they didn't have him for an extended period of time of course still won a lot without him I really flip the season around without him and Kyle Tucker which is just impressive but maybe they're gonna get a nice and fresh version of Justin berlander who's going to perform better in late September and in October when they make the post season than he typically does I think it was a little bit of a Factor last year for him think about it his season got started late with the Mets because he had the injury in spring training and he missed like the first month month and a half whatever it was came back kind of worked through it got back to the Astros started to pitch a lot better and then he had a good postseason if they can get that out of him okay fine worry about the is he going to be back next year or not I still tend to believe that this time around they'll probably get a deal done with him he you know crane buddy buddy and he's not getting $43 million on the open market again I think he's gonna be a20 million a year pitcher at Max he's at the stage you go look at the contracts that Charlie Morton signed with the Braves last few years I think he's one of those kind of guys which that on the on the market that's that's normal pay basically for a top three of your rotation starter because he's still top three I he's realistically you like him to be your third starter which is crazy to think with him absolutely crazy right now fber and I feel like Hunter Brown's more dangerous but if Verlander goes out there over the next few months next couple of months and pitches like he did today and you know is able to build up and to go deeper into games as long as he gets back to being pitch efficient and the command looks like this I will have confidence that the Astros are going to get a lot out of him between now and whenever the season ends in October hopefully the very end of October if this is going to be the last stretch for him because the option by the way is not going to vest if you're wondering why I'm saying this could be it because he's not going to hit 140 Innings he's up to like 60 something now he's not getting 80 Innings between now and the end of the season there's not happening and he'd have to basically throw complete games and I don't even know if he'd make it then because I'd have to map out how many starts he's going to make it's not going to be 10 six seven maybe eight no can't even be eight at this point oh gosh why am I doing this to myself I'm gonna look it up now it's not gonna be not even be eight he's gonna be one two three four five he's one two three four two three four he's gonna get five or six starts probably five maybe six it's not happening he could yes he couldn't even reach it there you know but I liked what I saw today I did I thought it was encouraging I thought that it was way sharper than I could have expected it to be and you know what I'm glad they could absolutely use Justin berater at the top of the rotation with framber leading them in and then Hunter Brown behind him and you say Kikuchi behind him you could go into the postseason feeling okay about what you got rotation wise which is a far cry from what you felt couple months ago because I think that was the thing that haunted me the most was that how is this team team going to go out there and consistently put up the level of pitching that we're accustomed to as fans and that they're accustomed to as a team I didn't know and here they are getting the ball rolling in the right direction let's go ahead and talk about the series that's coming up this weekend in Baltimore it's a big one it's a doozy there is something on the line in this series possibly every game matters against teams that are ahead of you in the American League standings and this is a team that's ahead of you in the American League standings can the Astros go up there and at least split this weekend series we'll talk about it next here on the locked on Astros postcast I've asked you guys this question before and I'm gonna ask you it again are you playing prize picks why not it's fun it makes games exciting it puts a little bit of extra juice to it I enjoy it I can't wait to have football back and to be playing picks I think I'm a sucker for loading up on receivers and their numbers I just am I just I just love playing the receivers I also love NBA action on prize picks honestly that is a lot of fun when it comes to points rebounds and assists that's my bread and butter over there with prize picks but prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports at with over five million active members prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports unlike other apps on prize picks it's just you against the numbers 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 1,000 sign up today and get $50 instantly when you play $5 you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus it's guaranteed download the prize picks app today and use code locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100 that's code locked on MLB on prize picks for a deposit match up to $100 prize picks run your game locked on Astros postcast continues here on the locked on Sports Houston page thank you for joining us today if you are again new to this channel don't be a stranger come back tomorrow we'll do this again tomorrow night Astros and Orioles at is this still Camden Yards I don't even know what the name of the place is up there they if they succumb to the having a a having a um sponsor for yeah orial Park at Camden Yards it's on my list it's one of the ballparks that I have not been to that I absolutely want to go to I want to go see where yordon hit that ball out there into the street I want to see all of it it looks like an awesome place and I think they say the barbecue or something over there is pretty good by the ballpark too whatever it is it's on my like I said it's on my list I would absolutely go and uh check it out that one and PNC two of the ballparks that I have not been to um on my list again I think the Astros go to yeah the Astros go to Pittsburgh next year um it's my new world um I might be able to get out there for that make maybe make it tough for doing some of these shows which I am going to go ahead and give you guys way ahead of time warning it's a weird one to do this on but coming up in is it November when the the Texans play the Cowboys in Arlington there will not be a postcast with me on that we're going to try and get somebody to do it that night but I have actually been given tickets to the game that night up there and I am very much looking forward to going up there and wearing a lot of red like I always look forward to going places if I can which I've never done honestly it's just the craziest thing I've gone on the road all the time to watch the Astros in the postseason and I never get to wear Astros GE because you know you're neutral you're media you know you can't stand out you can't wear those things so maybe for the first time ever I can go on the road and do that that'd be pretty cool I would enjoy that um what I would enjoy is the Astros going to Baltimore and getting some wins this weekend tough series playing the Orioles who are one of the American League's best teams 74 and 54 Astros played well against them earlier this season good news is Baltimore's coming in not so hot uh over their last 10 they're four and six they lost today to the Mets in dramatic walk-off fashion Jesse Winker hit a bomb to win the game for a walk-off and had if you've not seen Jesse Winker celebration today running around the bases to celebrate the walk-off home run it's something I'm gonna guess that the next time the Orioles and the Mets see each other Jesse Winker if he's still on the Mets or whenever he plays the Orioles again is probably gonna wear one because it was a bit over the top not gonna lie to you I don't have a problem with it I think baseball's fun when you do these things but you know how old kogy baseball is they get nice and hot and bothered don't give up the home run to lose the game and maybe the guy won't pimp the you know what out of it um maybe the Astros can't hit walk-off home runs against the baltim Orioles of course this weekend but they can hit home runs to win baseball against it's a ballpark that is a lot different than it's been in the past left field is now graveyard um I think the series kind of I don't want to put it on one man but man yordon Alvarez find his uh find his swing again please that would be great Astros if you don't remember did sweep Baltimore or earlier this season at minute made Park that was the 21st through the 23rd of June games were a lot of fun too 14 to 11 in the first one then the Astros won 5181 so they outscored Baltimore in that series 27 to 13 the Astros scored 27 runs well I guess give me 30 runs they score 30 runs this weekend they're taking at least three or four right may maybe take all four should take all four right you can score 30 runs in a Four game series please that'd be great just don't bottle them all up into one game like they did few years ago when yordon hit those baseballs all over the place up there in Baltimore but it's a tough series it is a series that matters that the Astros want to claw their way up to the spot of one of the better records in the American League where they could you know go ahead and possibly have have a first round by you got to beat these teams that are in front of you like this and that is something that you know is going to be interesting uh by the way real quick did want to give an update after the game today from chanler roome he was asked or he said um asked when he may get back to playing Third Base Alex bre bregman said it's going to be a fluid situation for the rest of the season there're still so swelling in the in the elbow some Gremlins in there are causing it he said but bregman did resume throwing today they're not going to tell us but I'm guaranteeing you he doesn't play Third Base again he's got something wrong with his elbow like something legit wrong with his elbow so Alex bregman DH go ahead and prepare yourself for it the rest of the season it's gonna be interesting to see if that is a significant injury that does it require that work TJ which players can play through but does it do anything to his Market this offseason as well uh just something to watch something to watch with that but this series against Baltimore ask as don't have starting pictures posted to this point Corbin Burns is going to go for the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow Astros did well against him last time actually uh on Sat on Friday excuse me they're going to go with Cade Povich is Baltimore Saturday it'll be Albert Suarez and then on Sunday it is TBD versus TBD Sunday by the way is Sunday Night Baseball so we will have a Evening Edition of this show on Sunday unlike our normal versions where you know Sundays it's the middle of the afternoon 608 tomorrow 605 on Friday which is that no that's not okay I thought for a second it was an Apple TV game but it doesn't look like it is uh Saturday 305 first pitch and then again Sunday 610 that one is on ESPN but uh we'll see what happens not the best of days today for the Astros losing to the Bal or to the um good Lord the Boston Red Sox dropping the series it happens though I hope you guys have a great rest of your Wednesday afternoon and evening and night we will talk again tomorrow night after Astros and Orioles right here on the locked on Astros postcast