The Astros won two out of three against the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend. In The Loop goes over some of the most encouraging signs from the series.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00What was the most encouraging signs for you during this series?
00:03Yeah, there were a lot, weren't there?
00:04There were, there definitely was.
00:06I'm curious what you guys are thinking, and of course, 713-572-4610 on the text line.
00:10Do you have the text line up?
00:12I do have the text line up.
00:13Okay, good.
00:14I'll give you my password in a little bit.
00:15But anyway, look, I think, to me, it wasn't necessarily an individual.
00:21And there were some individuals, including one that we talked about Friday.
00:25You know, who would you like to really, I forget how we put it exactly, you know, to really get going?
00:28Yeah, the magic pixie dust, whatever, I wanted these players to get them going.
00:32And one of the names that I mentioned was Yonor Diaz.
00:35And sure enough, Yonor was terrific.
00:39You know, still needs to work on his defense.
00:41There were a couple of moments here and there, but nevertheless, to me, it was collective.
00:45To me, it was like, when I watched, obviously, Friday night was just a blowout, as you mentioned.
00:49Saturday, it looked like a team that was kind of lost again.
00:53You know, like, they had destroyed that pitcher in several, really for his career in the Major League.
01:00Anderson, they just killed him.
01:02And they're throwing a lefty against these Astros.
01:04And you're thinking, oh, okay, they're going to get a little run here because they just, you know,
01:07they kill lefties and all that.
01:09I think they had, and I'm generalizing here, but I want to say they talked about it on the broadcast,
01:1527 hits, 27 runs in, like, 18 innings or something against him.
01:22And then that guy has a no-hitter going into the sixth inning.
01:25Yeah.
01:25I mean, it was incredible.
01:27So, to me, that looked like a team that had sort of like, you know, they're lost again.
01:32They had a good night last night.
01:33They left all their runs and hits, you know, on Friday.
01:36But then they come back yesterday.
01:38And, to me, it was that resilience.
01:40It was that familiar bounce-back game in Moss, you know, that they showed.
01:46What was that?
01:47On Moss.
01:50You had to do it like that, huh?
01:51On Moss.
01:53All right.
01:54That's how you say it.
01:55Okay.
01:56That they showed.
01:57I was like, I could do this, but it's not.
01:59Everybody knows what I heard.
02:01Like, y'all heard it, right?
02:02You heard it, right?
02:03Like, I just want to make sure that I'm not alone.
02:05Figgy, did you hear it?
02:06What did I say?
02:07Not really.
02:08Okay, that's fine.
02:09What was it?
02:09Can you repeat it?
02:10On Moss.
02:11Keep going.
02:13Just unnecessary.
02:15That they showed.
02:15You'll tell me in the break.
02:17You know, coming back yesterday, that was a sign of something the old Astros did.
02:22And, to me, that was the most encouraging thing.
02:25They're showing a little something collective.
02:27Yeah.
02:27It was nice to see them bring it back around on Sunday, yesterday, because you got 14 runs,
02:34you know, 16 hits.
02:35Like, it felt like all these things are coming together.
02:37You put up cricket numbers a few times during that game, and then, boom, you get Saturday,
02:43and as you mentioned, right, six no-hit innings.
02:45And you're just like, oh, okay.
02:46So, was that just the instance where it all clicked for a day, and then you're back to this issue?
02:51But, yeah, it was nice to see largely everybody do some level of something, because we did talk about it in a way that, you know,
03:00one guy getting out of it, and I really kind of resigned myself to the idea that maybe certain people will come around in stages and waves.
03:07It was nice to see, like, okay, long break through at a time period.
03:13So, that was nice.
03:14Can we give a shout-out to Ryan Gusto?
03:17Yes.
03:17Who, you know, who pitched incredibly well on Saturday, although he ends up catching an L in that game.
03:26He's going to be important, I think, for this time period, right?
03:29Like, he comes in as a glorified opener, but you get four innings out of him, which is a lot for a dude who was just, you know,
03:35a long reliever out of the pen, immediately thrust into a situation where he has to start.
03:41And, I mean, because you don't have Spencer Arregetti due to the, you know, freak accident that happens when he's, you know,
03:47when he's, you know, playing catch in the outfield, you don't necessarily have a great option immediately available
03:54until you can get some reinforcements in.
03:57And it seems like the reinforcements might get here, you know, the start of next month, maybe?
04:01Yeah, yeah.
04:01But Ryan Gusto pitched well enough to him to a place where I'm like, I feel like you can, you know,
04:07see this out to a point where, you know, he can, and we knew that he was pitching very well.
04:11Like, he had been pitching fairly well for the situation that you had him in to start the season.
04:16But it's a different circumstance starting out the game and having, you know, an opportunity.
04:21In that environment.
04:22In that environment, an opportunity for multiple times around the order for, you know, guys to see you.
04:27And he handled it fairly well, three earned runs, but six strikeouts.
04:31And I think that I feel comfortable with the idea that maybe he'll be able to be there the next time you go through the lineup,
04:37or the order, rather, or the rotation is the word I was looking for.
04:40Next time you go through the rotation, I feel comfortable having Gusto there and getting yourself to a place where
04:45hopefully Lance McCullers Jr. comes and takes over for him, and now you're off to the races.
04:50And it's next 10 strikeouts.
04:52That was another stellar effort, you know, from somebody you had to, a starting pitcher you had to wonder about.
04:58And, you know, even though he looked good, you're still sort of like, okay, let's see what he's got.
05:01He throws 10 strikeouts out there.
05:04That was a great sign.
05:04That's why collectively, because Paredes as well.
05:07There it is.
05:08That's the one I eventually wanted to get to for sure.
05:10I mean, the Crawford boxes are his friend, and, you know, we wondered about that, and certainly, you know,
05:16all the advanced numbers say, you know, that's what was going to be good for home runs in three straight games.
05:22I mean, that's big time, too.
05:24So you're getting the collective all of a sudden.
05:26Yeah, he leads the team in OPS now, right?
05:29He's jumped up into the mid-800s, if memory serves.
05:32And that's absolutely necessary for the spot that he, you know, he occupies in the order, right?
05:38It's Altuve and him as the best OPSs on the team as of right now.
05:42And that's huge that you have these guys doing that.
05:45I think also one of the things that's really interesting, Chandler Rome put together a cool piece breaking down this Angels series, rather, by the numbers.
05:54And one of the things that you can – or actually, not even just the series, the first 15 games of the season by the numbers.
05:59And one of them that really caught my attention is the 10-plus pitchers per at-bat that this team is seeing.
06:07Like, they are working pitchers.
06:10And especially if the bats are going to start showing up in the way that they did in this series
06:15and obviously in the way that we had expected them to, you add that with the fact that they're making pitchers work
06:19in addition to, you know, getting hits, getting extra base hits, now you're really cooking with grease.
06:25Like, you have an opportunity to do something special because you're going to wear out pitchers.
06:30And then if you – and then, you know, lets off some of the pressure that have been put on your starting pitches,
06:34on your relievers, even on your defense as well.
06:37No, for sure.
06:38And, you know, you mentioned Gusto and you mentioned, you know, Lance McCullers.
06:44He doesn't have to be – all he has to do is get us into the next month
06:48because shout-out to Lance McCullers Jr. and getting it done.
06:52And, you know, this is a team where if you get those great at-bats and get into their bullpen,
06:56all of a sudden your bullpen gets – or your pitching staff gets fortified if McCullers gets up here, you know?
07:03And so all of a sudden you're looking a little better.
07:05Yeah, absolutely.
07:06All right, so are you seeing any others from the text line that folks want to shout-out
07:10when it comes to the encouraging signs on this – you know, after this Angels series?
07:16Oh, well, I am seeing what I may have said when I was calling them the Los Angeles Angels.
07:19No, that was me.
07:20That was definitely me.
07:21That was you?
07:21Yeah, that was definitely me.
07:22No, okay.
07:23Didn't get that G in there in the right time.
07:26But you know what?
07:27Bleep them.
07:28I'm good with that.
07:29The Angels, by mind you, had been, you know, swinging the bats pretty well themselves to this point of the season.
07:36So, well done to the pitching just in general, keeping that at bay.
07:39Yeah, look, and the other thing is just up and down the lineup, you know,
07:43the Astros seem to be getting into a little groove, and now they've got a good test here.
07:49You know, obviously St. Louis starting today.
07:52Then they have the Padres coming here, and that's going to be –
07:56I mean, the Padres are the best team in baseball right now, if you really want to look at it.
08:00I mean, they're playing some great baseball.
08:01So couldn't have come at a better time for them to kind of re-channel the good things
08:06that this Astros team has done, their culture, if you will.
08:09All right, so I mixed up seeing four pitches per plate appearance,
08:13but it's the 10 – I believe it's 10 walks, if memory serves correctly,
08:19but they're doing a damn good job at the plate ultimately
08:22and, you know, making this really tough on opposing pitchers when it comes to the situation.
08:29Shout-out to Jeremy Pena as well, right?
08:31Obviously, we kind of touched on this with all of the guys finding a little bit of, you know,
08:37their bats in some ways.
08:39Jeremy Pena is hitting line drives at a higher rate than he previously had,
08:43which seems to tell me that he's made some adjustments in the way that he's swinging the bat,
08:48trying to get the ball in play.
08:50It reminds me of the story that's told about Barry Bonds,
08:53where as he was approaching Willie Mays' record,
08:56one of the things he decided is that he wanted to tie and break it at home,
09:01so they were on a road trip.
09:02I think they had five more games,
09:03and he just decided what he was going to do was change that launch angle
09:05and just beam the ball, like just pew, pew, lasers across the field
09:09with, you know, singles, doubles all over the field.
09:12Obviously, that's not what Jeremy Pena is doing per se.
09:15Maybe.
09:15Well, I mean, look, if you got that in you,
09:17if you got that Barry Bonds in you to do it to that degree,
09:19please break that one out.
09:21The other part of it.
09:22I would appreciate it, right?
09:23But, no, just the idea of, hey, and it's kind of contrary
09:27to what has become the common perspective in baseball,
09:30which is, you know, just up a launch angle
09:32and try and get this ball in the air.
09:33No, man, if that's not been working for you,
09:35get a lower launch angle and just spray the ball around the field
09:39and see if we can get on the bases,
09:41especially because he's been taking bags this year as well, right?
09:45So, yeah, man, I love that about what he's been doing.
09:48That's really encouraging as well.
09:49It seems like Central and Central gets a lot of hate,
09:53but it does feel like, hey, man,
09:55if this team is going to have an approach individualized in that way
09:59to where we're going to maximize what these players do,
10:02I think you give yourself an opportunity to do good things,
10:05do some damage when you get up to the plate.
10:07And what if Jake Myers is sustainable, what he's doing?
10:10Because, you know, Jake Myers, you know, seems to be doing...
10:13How long do we have to go for...
10:14I don't know.
10:15That's what I'm asking.
10:16I don't expect it to happen.
10:17I expect water to find its level here.
10:20But continuing to just, you know, sort of be...
10:23Now, he's no longer the second-leading hitter on the team,
10:25thankfully, because Paredes is now there.
10:28And as you mentioned, 831 OPS and all that.
10:31He seems to be grooving.
10:32But Myers just continues to, you know, 12 total bases.
10:35It doesn't sound like a whole lot,
10:38but seems to be getting on base.
10:39Five stolen bases as well.
10:41Just sort of doing the things that you want your center fielder to do.
10:44Yeah, and I think that that's also been deeply encouraging
10:47because if he could find a way to, at the plate, be manageable, be passable,
10:52like, he is absolutely one of the things that keeps your outfield tenable, right?
10:56It's the larger conversations that we had.
10:58It was the reasons that were given as to why, you know,
11:02you could feel good about Jose Altuve and left.
11:04Why you could feel good about putting a rookie who did not have any time in right
11:09in right is because you have a center fielder that can cover more ground
11:13and then honestly has the experience to maybe be a little bit of a field general of sorts.
11:18I know not used in those terms, but I think you get what I'm trying to say there.
11:21It makes it a lot easier if he could stay on the field because his bat is working.
11:26And last thing, we are in the place now.
11:28Are we all in agreement?
11:31You just right.
11:31You just kill him.
11:32Keep putting him out there.
11:33We had this discussion last week.
11:35You know, and it wasn't like we thought this, but it was a question.
11:37You know, was it a mistake, so to speak?
11:41But, you know, I think we both landed on the spot of no,
11:45just keep putting him out there.
11:46I don't know how much you believed in that, you know, per se.
11:49But it was a spot where, you know, keep putting him out there
11:51and then he comes back and responds and seems to be doing –
11:54it seems to be about where you want him to be at this point in the season.
11:57Yeah, especially when you can occupy him in your eight, nine hole in your lineups,
12:02like give him an opportunity to continue to develop and come along.
12:03A couple nice catches in the outfield too.
12:05Honestly, that's probably the more encouraging thing
12:07because that's a tough place, right,
12:10to jump into a position that you have not played.
12:12And at times he looked green.
12:14You're seeing that ripening kind of happening for him as well.
12:18All right.