September 25, 2024 • 19 mins
Hear the Houston Astros AL West Clubhouse Celebration 2024 as Steve Sparks catches up with a number of players in the clubhouse, including Manager Joe Espada, GM Dana Brown, pitchers Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti, sluggers Jon Singleton and Jason Heyward & more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Astros fans, cheers, fucking lackey. Welcome to the Crawford Bucks Cast.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
The Houston Astros.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Proudly poured for you by Crawford Bach from Carbach Brewing.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're getting down, bear, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
The Crawford Bucks Cast starts now Here we go. Here's Chris,
Gordy and Ross Via. Real fans are ready to explode
to too, So.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You're hanging a mass struck him out. The winners and
still AL West champions the Houston Astros for the fourth
straight year and the seventh time in the last eight years.
The Astros are the best in the AL West. Players
(01:01):
come out a mom seed behind the pitcher's bound, It'll
be an even bigger celebration in the Astros clubhouse.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Hit moments, Pretty queen.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
I want to short with this man, So damn, what's that?
Speaker 6 (01:15):
You want a lot of.
Speaker 7 (01:17):
People out early early?
Speaker 8 (01:22):
You know what?
Speaker 7 (01:22):
You got one another so witch, we got Gritch.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
We are tumbering than anything, but you know what, here
we tumb.
Speaker 9 (01:40):
Joe twelve and twenty four. At the beginning of this season,
I thought you were dead.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
What'd you think?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
We never thought that we were dead. That's why we
are here.
Speaker 8 (01:48):
Hill.
Speaker 7 (01:49):
We always knew that it was just a matter of time, but.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
The key was staying together. We stayed together. We're a
good team. We know how to win. We found a
way to win, and now he'll we go.
Speaker 9 (02:00):
So you're telling me you're going to bed at night,
you're on a road trip, you're in San Francisco, you're
in the hotel room. You guys start off slowly and
you're not questioning what's going on.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
No, he's a marathon. No matter how you start, it's
how you finish.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
And this this team.
Speaker 7 (02:16):
They know how to sprint, they know how to run
a race. And that's why we are here. And this
is this is where we go. This is this is
this is the part of the season that we like
to show up and play.
Speaker 9 (02:26):
It's almost the expectations, Joe is. You guys are gonna
go to the playoffs. You guys are gonna go deep.
But for you guys to set a culture, how do
you not disrupt that?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
As the first year manager.
Speaker 7 (02:40):
Because I've been here, it's in my blood. I know,
I know the heartbeat of this group. You know, and
you you know we all are hearts.
Speaker 5 (02:48):
They all beat the same way. If if if I panic.
Speaker 7 (02:52):
If I if my stuff starts beeping too fast and
I show you know, I'm the leader, but we gotta
we gotta stay together.
Speaker 8 (02:59):
Man.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
This is a special, special group.
Speaker 9 (03:03):
And when you guys got off to a slow start,
you had a couple of guys coming to the end
of your manager's office and they said, hey, man, we gotcha.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Keep rolling. You guys aren't showing panic. And it's a
good thing with this coaching staff, that's right.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
You know, we got coaches who have these kids from
the minor leagues. We know their makeup, we know what
they made of. So we just got to hold each
other by their hand.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
And let's go.
Speaker 8 (03:26):
Man.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I'm excited.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
I'm still happy for this group.
Speaker 9 (03:28):
What are you most excited about this team? The pitching
staff is starting around into shape. You got some guys
starting to get more healthy. You get your don back
out there. This lineup one to nine is pretty tough,
aren't they.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
Yes, yes we are.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
And you know what for me?
Speaker 8 (03:44):
For me, it's more.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
The grown you know, like.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
How our young pitchers grew grew up in front of us,
the Hunter Browns, the Spencer's, you know, the trades of.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
The acquisition on the front office, made some might like
chasing Hayward. You know how many big homers in a
couple of weeks that he's been here. Everyone just put.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
A little bit of and he's helping the other guys.
Speaker 7 (04:07):
Absolutely, absolutely, this is just special man, Ali, Joe, thanks
for catching up.
Speaker 8 (04:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 9 (04:13):
All right, we're gonna have Dana Brown in ten seconds.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
All right, I got a special guest. I got a
special guest.
Speaker 9 (04:23):
Special guest, not Dana Brown. This is actually the nineteen
seventy six Heisman Trophy Award winner.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Tony dor said, I didn't know that you who weren't aster? Oh?
Speaker 8 (04:37):
Wait?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Is that You're right? It was Dana Brown. He's Dana Brown.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
How lucky were you with Kokuchi?
Speaker 8 (04:44):
I'm just fired up about Kuci.
Speaker 10 (04:46):
You know, we took a shot on him because he
had power.
Speaker 8 (04:49):
Stuff up to ninety eight.
Speaker 10 (04:50):
We knew he had strikeouts, we knew we could make
some adjustments with his secondary stuff.
Speaker 8 (04:54):
And we're fired up.
Speaker 9 (04:56):
Whoa, he's set fired up. Somebody douse you with Lebruski. Hey,
this team is starting around in the shape. You get
Jason Hayward in here, You had Ben Gamble, some guys
with some professional at bats. What is it about forming
a roster.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
For a major league team. For you makes this team
a World Series contender?
Speaker 10 (05:19):
You know it starts with Matt Hogan. Matt Hogan gives
us great recommendations. Again his recommendations. We took a look
at it.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
We felt like Heyward was really.
Speaker 8 (05:29):
Good and his leadership is He's a veteran.
Speaker 10 (05:32):
He had power, he could play defense, and we saw
a lot of it on display.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
You met, you hired Joe A. Spotta.
Speaker 9 (05:40):
This is what started everything coming into this season. You
guys have been on a roll now, seven Al West
championships in the last eight years. Joe Spotta was the
right man for the job. What did you see? And
Joey Spotta to keep this right going.
Speaker 10 (05:55):
First of all, Joe Spider is a good baseball man.
I knew you had the proper temperament for this, and
so we were fired up to get him. He had
familiarity with the players, and ultimately we felt like he
was the man for the job and he did a
hell of a job.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
How big was this for you guys to clinch today?
So you can kind of maneuver things.
Speaker 9 (06:13):
Rest a few guys, Let your on rest as long
as he needs to to get ready for the playoffs.
Speaker 8 (06:18):
Absolutely massive.
Speaker 10 (06:20):
Giving those guys a breather would be a big part
of what we want to do in the next week
or so, and so getting them getting this thing done
at this point in time was very important for us.
Speaker 9 (06:31):
We're fired up, all right, guys. That's Dana Brown. Dana,
You've done a great job. Thanks for catching up. Man,
Let's keep it rolling.
Speaker 8 (06:38):
Absolutely appreciate you.
Speaker 9 (06:39):
Appreciate you, all right, guys, back to you, all right,
got Hunter Brown? Hunter Brown is trying to give me
directions on how to conduct an interview. I appreciate your
efforts outside of being the number one ace on this staff. Dude, Seriously,
you said it yesterday. You feel pretty good about handling
(07:00):
other teams because you feel like your arsenal is good
enough when you execute to get anybody out.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
How did this transform? Yeah?
Speaker 11 (07:09):
Oh man, I just honestly, I had no choice but
to keep believing in myself even when you know, maybe outsiders,
or even when I doubted myself. You know, I had
to look myself in the mirror and and trust that
I could get it done, because you know, that's the
type of guy that I believe I am. So man,
there's a lot of hard work every day, day in
and day out, especially.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
When things weren't going well. You know, that's when it's.
Speaker 11 (07:29):
Hard to keep putting your nose to the grindstone. But
you know that's what that's what I kept doing. So
you know, it doesn't mean everything's perfect.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
You know, I still have.
Speaker 11 (07:38):
Ups and downs, bad games, this and that.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
But man, you still got room to improve. That's right,
No doubt, You're never You're never gonna get You're not
gonna quit learning.
Speaker 9 (07:49):
Five weeks into the season, you had to have a
little bit of doubts about where you were in your career.
Speaker 11 (07:54):
It's probably I had like a fifteen million year A Okay,
I know that doesn't define you.
Speaker 9 (07:59):
No, that was It's like, actually that was pretty accurate.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
That's what I mean.
Speaker 11 (08:02):
So it's like, yeah, of course, I say, well, I
gotta clean this up.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
But man, I'm so proud of our team.
Speaker 11 (08:09):
You know, I don't know what the record was, seven
and twenty or something like that. Four here you go,
not great, sorry, but you know here we are. Now
we're division champs, and we got more work to do.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I give a couple of shout outs to a couple
of guys that helped you kind of get over the hump.
Speaker 9 (08:26):
And I think it says a lot about those two guys,
I think in particular talking about Bregman and Verlander, and
the other thing is it says a lot about you
that they're willing to go out there and help you
because they feel like you're a big part of this.
Speaker 11 (08:38):
Yeah, you know, I definitely take it as a sign
of respect, right that those guys who got so much
on their plate. You know, I've seen so many different
guys come in and out of this clubhouse and across
their careers, you know, and they take the time to
to you know, spend some time and talk to me
and try and help me get better.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
You know, they didn't have to do that. They're not
obligated to do that.
Speaker 8 (08:57):
But oh man, I'll.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
Look up to both those And what did.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Alex do some specifically for you?
Speaker 11 (09:04):
Well, you know, he told me that basically, I'll tone
it down for the interview, say I gotta I gotta
not pitch the way that I was pitching soft and
doing this, and that I gotta start busting dudes inside.
Best way to do that is with the two seam.
So you know, I was living away from Righties Letty's.
(09:25):
I was doing okay, but living away from Righty's is like, Man,
that's not type of.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Dude you are. You gotta bust these guys. Andy to Hart,
you got different stuff.
Speaker 11 (09:31):
It's only gonna play better him Dubon Altuve, all these
guys I talked to about what a difference it is
to face a guy with you know, two or three
fastballs and.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
I was sowing one at a time.
Speaker 11 (09:41):
Then excuse me, start throwing the cutter and two seam
and it changed my season for sure.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
What's your family think about this? Man?
Speaker 9 (09:49):
You're on a team that is rolling into the playoffs
every single year and you're a big part of this.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Even a couple of years ago, you were a big
part of this. What's it feel like? I mean, it
feels good.
Speaker 11 (09:58):
I know, uh me and my dad and my mom
tell me all the time. You know that they're proud
of me, and that that feels good as it's hard
to make your parents proud.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
So hopefully I can keep doing that. All that's under Brown,
Thanks man, Thanks for appreciate it. Back with you guys.
Got John Singleton. He's double fisting. He's got a cigar.
They say, he's lively right now.
Speaker 9 (10:19):
John, gotta think back to about eight or ten years ago.
What's the difference between this clubhouse and the one you're
in right now.
Speaker 12 (10:26):
A lot of winning, for sure. I mean everyone in here,
you know, and they know what it takes. You know,
everyone goes out here and plays hard every single day,
and it's enjoy to be around everyone.
Speaker 9 (10:35):
What are the guys like. I know they're helping you,
and I know you're a veteran. You've been around this
game for a long time, But tell me about some
of the veterans how they've helped you become what you
are right now.
Speaker 12 (10:46):
Just the way they go about their business. You know,
they've won so many ball games, they've been in the
playoffs so many.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Times that you just watch them.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Yeah, essentially, you know they don't pay it.
Speaker 12 (10:54):
They go out there and play hard every day and
you can learn a lot just from doing that.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
You guys are gonna roll into the playoffs.
Speaker 9 (11:00):
You got a chance to rest a little bit, get
the pitching staff in the right order.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Have you ever played in the playoffs.
Speaker 12 (11:06):
Before outside of last year? Not really, So it's gonna
be very interesting for me. But it's gonna be a
lot of fun.
Speaker 9 (11:12):
You're gonna be a big part of this thing. You're
at bats and everybody's talking about this. Joey Swatta talks
about this all the time. He respects your at bats,
he respects your swing decisions. Where does that come from?
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Just from a young age?
Speaker 12 (11:27):
You know, I've always tried to drive a ball, and
you can't obviously drive every single ball. So I'll try
to be his patient. I hand and wait for a mistake.
That's honestly where it comes from.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
There you go, that's John Sieglemson. Thanks for catching up. Definitely,
thank you. Back with you guys.
Speaker 9 (11:40):
Ncer Erraic Getty, Oh my gosh, so he comes out
his walk up music is Ted Nugent.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
And who looks more like Ted Nugent? This vincer Eric Getty.
He's a MotorCity mad man. What's it like?
Speaker 8 (11:55):
Man?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
What do you know about Ted Nugent?
Speaker 13 (11:58):
I wish I knew more. I love his music. I
guess I look like him? According to you?
Speaker 5 (12:04):
When when did you?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
When did you ever hear Ted Ducha?
Speaker 5 (12:08):
My dad used to play it in the car sometimes.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Hate track.
Speaker 13 (12:11):
Yeah, yeah, CD player and uh, I don't know we
added a CD.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
I just kind of played in my room.
Speaker 13 (12:17):
And then obviously, you know, you get a phone, you
can listen to everything.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
I just kind of got into it. I like a
lot of classic rock, but great walkum song.
Speaker 9 (12:25):
Dude, you were bouncing around in sixth grade and the
Astros started winning big time.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Yeah, sixth grade, you're coming to the mini made park.
Speaker 9 (12:31):
You're watching You're watching Bregman and now too a Bang
and hit doubles and home runs. What's it like to
be a part of it? In watching JV Shove? What's
it like to be a part of this?
Speaker 13 (12:42):
It means the world to me, man, Honestly, like it
still hasn't really set it in.
Speaker 8 (12:46):
I guess the moment.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
The moment's incredible, though.
Speaker 8 (12:48):
I just I'm so happy.
Speaker 13 (12:50):
I'm so thankful this, this is this is my dream
come true.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Really.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
One of the things that we were noticing was.
Speaker 9 (12:56):
That the Astros were keeping tabs of how many things
you were pitching. You get to a little past what
you've ever thrown before, and it looks like you're pitching great.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Oh yeah, we saw on the sixth inning, I thought.
Speaker 9 (13:09):
You were melting. You're you're into a wall. We found
out later that it was a cramp. But how are
you feeling your arm feels good this time, this type
of year.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Fantastic.
Speaker 13 (13:18):
Actually, I was just telling Hunter earlier, I'm I'm surprised.
I feel like in the past, as season's go on,
I get tired. But I feel like this year, I've
the plan that I set out in the offseason, the
plan I've executed in season.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
I actually feel better than ever.
Speaker 8 (13:30):
I'm ready to go.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
It's funny what winning does for your arm.
Speaker 13 (13:33):
Yeah, winning in some adrenaline, a full stadium and into
mid park, you know, it's an incredible drug.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Actually, all right, I'm with Jason Hayward.
Speaker 9 (13:40):
Jason Hayward has made a big impression on this team.
He almost stuck his head into the out of town scoreboard.
When you almost stuck your head into the out of
town scoreboard, did you feel like it would get stuck.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
I didn't know how it was gonna come out.
Speaker 14 (13:56):
As one of those you go in you know what
you went in there with, but you don't know how
it's gonna come out, one of those like football type players,
a quick stinger. But but after that, it's like, okay,
let me just make sure everything's in one piece, you know,
calm down, so down, and let the game of the
excitement and the adrenaline takeover, and go finish the game
best you can.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Here's what I like. So you act like it's your
left wrist.
Speaker 9 (14:21):
You brace yourself against the out of town scoreboard, feel
like your top hand might be active.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Not might be active. Your next tab you go take.
Speaker 9 (14:33):
And it's one of the most beautiful swings that you
can imagine.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
You felt good. What's it feel like at the plate
right now?
Speaker 9 (14:39):
Four homers, last eleven games?
Speaker 14 (14:43):
Man, Just do my best to be present, do my
best to be present. Understand, they're gonna make pitches. Pitchers
are gonna do that thing they get paid to. But
just do my best to be ready on one pitch
at the time. You never know when they're gonna throw
something there that you can take a swing on it
and uh, you know, make a difference in the game.
And I think you know, I play like that one
going into the next Avat tells me thank you even less, right,
(15:05):
And so it's nice to not make too much. Just
go out there, put a good swing on something, and
if it's there, it's there, and you have a chance
to make a big event like that one so it's
not to see that one go over for shit.
Speaker 9 (15:16):
I listened to a podcast or not a podcast, but
an interview you had with Mookie Bets the day after
the Astros got yet and I was watching it.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
We were on the airplane. I was wanting to get
a chance to know you a little bit better.
Speaker 9 (15:32):
You were talking about and Mookie asked you about the
Chicago Cubs. You were able to make an impact. And
I know it's been talked about a lot, but as
a as a leader on a team, let's not talk
about that speech, but as a leader of a team, what.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Do you do to assimilate and become.
Speaker 9 (15:55):
A big part of what the Astros are trying to
do to get to another level?
Speaker 8 (16:01):
You know, first off, love move love movie Bets.
Speaker 14 (16:04):
Uh one of the best in the game, but on
and off the field and uh with the with the
pressure that he deals with on a daily basis very impressive,
you know, for how he goes about it. But as
a leader, I think, uh, you know, for me, it's
always started with focus on winning, focus on the group
around you, and just kind of learning, you know what
(16:25):
it makes everybody go right, Like there's gonna be some
days where somebody needs to pick me up.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
Developer relationships, develop relationships, and also just you know, when
when you see an edge you can give somebody, you know,
empower that because when we're all here because we're the
best in this game, we're all here because we're the
best at what we do.
Speaker 8 (16:43):
Sometimes we need to hear that.
Speaker 14 (16:44):
Sometimes it's nice to have that when you're you know,
you're in a down moment.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And who was that guy for you?
Speaker 8 (16:50):
What's that?
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Who was that guy for you?
Speaker 8 (16:52):
Well?
Speaker 14 (16:52):
Fortunately, now I've been on a lot of special groups.
This one included that guys are there for me is well,
you know Alex Bregman, Osee al Tuve beat the Karattini,
you know justin Verlander.
Speaker 8 (17:07):
You know Maurizio Dubon Yo awesome.
Speaker 14 (17:11):
But no, everyone know, there's there's not been, uh no
one guy here that doesn't understand how hard this used
to do. You know, it's nice to see famliar Basis
Caleer Bergerson being another one. You know, it's nice to
see familiar faces. But everyone again just understanding that. Brian right,
We've got a lot of world champions in here. Do
they know what the ups and downs are that look like?
And they know how important it is to stay positive,
(17:33):
to have fun and with the tough times behind you
a little bit.
Speaker 9 (17:36):
Last thing, is there anything different about this Astros clubhouse
from a lot of of the other clubhouses that you
were on with great teams?
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Anything different?
Speaker 8 (17:46):
Anything different?
Speaker 9 (17:49):
Or or is there something very similar about these teams?
Speaker 14 (17:52):
I was gonna say, I feel like, uh, I see
very similar. That there's instant, instant responses to the leaders
in this clubhouse, right, so everyone prepares every day here,
they go work their ass off before the game. We
all lived those highs with live the lows of you know,
the success and the failure. But just uh, you know,
(18:15):
someone you know like your an't haven't as relate this
late in the year, you know, talk being out most
of the season, this team starting the way they did,
being down ten games, and being right here on the
last day. So but for me, those are the similarities
I see in the sense of answering the challenge. You know,
those challenges are always gonna be there, They're gonna be tough.
Plenty of opportunities to make excuses, and nobody here does
(18:37):
now one time, if we get beat, we get beat.
If someone better that night somewhere better that night. You
acknowledge that, and then after that come back. How can
I get them tomorrow? And I think a night like
last night, a night like tonight for us to be
on the other side of that and hold it right there,
win a game four to three. You gotta be able
to win a win from ball game, right, You gotta
be able to do it. So so that's uh, those
(18:58):
are the similarities I see, and those are always special.
I don't take those for granted one bit, because you
got to know how to do it.
Speaker 8 (19:04):
It takes the failure.
Speaker 14 (19:04):
It takes them get your teeth knocked in, and how
you respind is really rid of Corsey.
Speaker 9 (19:08):
All right, man, let's build a lot of memories. I
think the Astros are very lucky to have you. Thanks
for catching up.
Speaker 8 (19:14):
I appreciate it. I'm lucky to be here.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
After all that has played out.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Still hell as champions, your boys.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Some summer, no matter how you started, how you've finished.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
Continued to be the legends of the.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Fall or division champions. We got more work do.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
This is history late in October on repeat.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
We never underestimate the heart of a champion.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
This is another on October.
Speaker 8 (19:38):
Now we're fired up hear me going again in the.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Golden era of Astros spaceball.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Since you're here, let's go on one another.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Lived the post season on Sports Talk seven ninety
Astros fans, cheers, fucking lackey. Welcome to the Crawford Bucks Cast.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
The Houston Astros.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Proudly poured for you by Crawford Bach from Carbach Brewing.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're getting down, bear, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
The Crawford Bucks Cast starts now Here we go. Here's Chris,
Gordy and Ross Via. Real fans are ready to explode
to too, So.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You're hanging a mass struck him out. The winners and
still AL West champions the Houston Astros for the fourth
straight year and the seventh time in the last eight years.
The Astros are the best in the AL West. Players
(01:01):
come out a mom seed behind the pitcher's bound, It'll
be an even bigger celebration in the Astros clubhouse.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Hit moments, Pretty queen.
Speaker 5 (01:11):
I want to short with this man, So damn, what's that?
Speaker 6 (01:15):
You want a lot of.
Speaker 7 (01:17):
People out early early?
Speaker 8 (01:22):
You know what?
Speaker 7 (01:22):
You got one another so witch, we got Gritch.
Speaker 5 (01:28):
We are tumbering than anything, but you know what, here
we tumb.
Speaker 9 (01:40):
Joe twelve and twenty four. At the beginning of this season,
I thought you were dead.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
What'd you think?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
We never thought that we were dead. That's why we
are here.
Speaker 8 (01:48):
Hill.
Speaker 7 (01:49):
We always knew that it was just a matter of time, but.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
The key was staying together. We stayed together. We're a
good team. We know how to win. We found a
way to win, and now he'll we go.
Speaker 9 (02:00):
So you're telling me you're going to bed at night,
you're on a road trip, you're in San Francisco, you're
in the hotel room. You guys start off slowly and
you're not questioning what's going on.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
No, he's a marathon. No matter how you start, it's
how you finish.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
And this this team.
Speaker 7 (02:16):
They know how to sprint, they know how to run
a race. And that's why we are here. And this
is this is where we go. This is this is
this is the part of the season that we like
to show up and play.
Speaker 9 (02:26):
It's almost the expectations, Joe is. You guys are gonna
go to the playoffs. You guys are gonna go deep.
But for you guys to set a culture, how do
you not disrupt that?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
As the first year manager.
Speaker 7 (02:40):
Because I've been here, it's in my blood. I know,
I know the heartbeat of this group. You know, and
you you know we all are hearts.
Speaker 5 (02:48):
They all beat the same way. If if if I panic.
Speaker 7 (02:52):
If I if my stuff starts beeping too fast and
I show you know, I'm the leader, but we gotta
we gotta stay together.
Speaker 8 (02:59):
Man.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
This is a special, special group.
Speaker 9 (03:03):
And when you guys got off to a slow start,
you had a couple of guys coming to the end
of your manager's office and they said, hey, man, we gotcha.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Keep rolling. You guys aren't showing panic. And it's a
good thing with this coaching staff, that's right.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
You know, we got coaches who have these kids from
the minor leagues. We know their makeup, we know what
they made of. So we just got to hold each
other by their hand.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
And let's go.
Speaker 8 (03:26):
Man.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I'm excited.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
I'm still happy for this group.
Speaker 9 (03:28):
What are you most excited about this team? The pitching
staff is starting around into shape. You got some guys
starting to get more healthy. You get your don back
out there. This lineup one to nine is pretty tough,
aren't they.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
Yes, yes we are.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
And you know what for me?
Speaker 8 (03:44):
For me, it's more.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
The grown you know, like.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
How our young pitchers grew grew up in front of us,
the Hunter Browns, the Spencer's, you know, the trades of.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
The acquisition on the front office, made some might like
chasing Hayward. You know how many big homers in a
couple of weeks that he's been here. Everyone just put.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
A little bit of and he's helping the other guys.
Speaker 7 (04:07):
Absolutely, absolutely, this is just special man, Ali, Joe, thanks
for catching up.
Speaker 8 (04:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 9 (04:13):
All right, we're gonna have Dana Brown in ten seconds.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
All right, I got a special guest. I got a
special guest.
Speaker 9 (04:23):
Special guest, not Dana Brown. This is actually the nineteen
seventy six Heisman Trophy Award winner.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Tony dor said, I didn't know that you who weren't aster? Oh?
Speaker 8 (04:37):
Wait?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Is that You're right? It was Dana Brown. He's Dana Brown.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
How lucky were you with Kokuchi?
Speaker 8 (04:44):
I'm just fired up about Kuci.
Speaker 10 (04:46):
You know, we took a shot on him because he
had power.
Speaker 8 (04:49):
Stuff up to ninety eight.
Speaker 10 (04:50):
We knew he had strikeouts, we knew we could make
some adjustments with his secondary stuff.
Speaker 8 (04:54):
And we're fired up.
Speaker 9 (04:56):
Whoa, he's set fired up. Somebody douse you with Lebruski. Hey,
this team is starting around in the shape. You get
Jason Hayward in here, You had Ben Gamble, some guys
with some professional at bats. What is it about forming
a roster.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
For a major league team. For you makes this team
a World Series contender?
Speaker 10 (05:19):
You know it starts with Matt Hogan. Matt Hogan gives
us great recommendations. Again his recommendations. We took a look
at it.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
We felt like Heyward was really.
Speaker 8 (05:29):
Good and his leadership is He's a veteran.
Speaker 10 (05:32):
He had power, he could play defense, and we saw
a lot of it on display.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
You met, you hired Joe A. Spotta.
Speaker 9 (05:40):
This is what started everything coming into this season. You
guys have been on a roll now, seven Al West
championships in the last eight years. Joe Spotta was the
right man for the job. What did you see? And
Joey Spotta to keep this right going.
Speaker 10 (05:55):
First of all, Joe Spider is a good baseball man.
I knew you had the proper temperament for this, and
so we were fired up to get him. He had
familiarity with the players, and ultimately we felt like he
was the man for the job and he did a
hell of a job.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
How big was this for you guys to clinch today?
So you can kind of maneuver things.
Speaker 9 (06:13):
Rest a few guys, Let your on rest as long
as he needs to to get ready for the playoffs.
Speaker 8 (06:18):
Absolutely massive.
Speaker 10 (06:20):
Giving those guys a breather would be a big part
of what we want to do in the next week
or so, and so getting them getting this thing done
at this point in time was very important for us.
Speaker 9 (06:31):
We're fired up, all right, guys. That's Dana Brown. Dana,
You've done a great job. Thanks for catching up. Man,
Let's keep it rolling.
Speaker 8 (06:38):
Absolutely appreciate you.
Speaker 9 (06:39):
Appreciate you, all right, guys, back to you, all right,
got Hunter Brown? Hunter Brown is trying to give me
directions on how to conduct an interview. I appreciate your
efforts outside of being the number one ace on this staff. Dude, Seriously,
you said it yesterday. You feel pretty good about handling
(07:00):
other teams because you feel like your arsenal is good
enough when you execute to get anybody out.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
How did this transform? Yeah?
Speaker 11 (07:09):
Oh man, I just honestly, I had no choice but
to keep believing in myself even when you know, maybe outsiders,
or even when I doubted myself. You know, I had
to look myself in the mirror and and trust that
I could get it done, because you know, that's the
type of guy that I believe I am. So man,
there's a lot of hard work every day, day in
and day out, especially.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
When things weren't going well. You know, that's when it's.
Speaker 11 (07:29):
Hard to keep putting your nose to the grindstone. But
you know that's what that's what I kept doing. So
you know, it doesn't mean everything's perfect.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
You know, I still have.
Speaker 11 (07:38):
Ups and downs, bad games, this and that.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
But man, you still got room to improve. That's right,
No doubt, You're never You're never gonna get You're not
gonna quit learning.
Speaker 9 (07:49):
Five weeks into the season, you had to have a
little bit of doubts about where you were in your career.
Speaker 11 (07:54):
It's probably I had like a fifteen million year A Okay,
I know that doesn't define you.
Speaker 9 (07:59):
No, that was It's like, actually that was pretty accurate.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
That's what I mean.
Speaker 11 (08:02):
So it's like, yeah, of course, I say, well, I
gotta clean this up.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
But man, I'm so proud of our team.
Speaker 11 (08:09):
You know, I don't know what the record was, seven
and twenty or something like that. Four here you go,
not great, sorry, but you know here we are. Now
we're division champs, and we got more work to do.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
I give a couple of shout outs to a couple
of guys that helped you kind of get over the hump.
Speaker 9 (08:26):
And I think it says a lot about those two guys,
I think in particular talking about Bregman and Verlander, and
the other thing is it says a lot about you
that they're willing to go out there and help you
because they feel like you're a big part of this.
Speaker 11 (08:38):
Yeah, you know, I definitely take it as a sign
of respect, right that those guys who got so much
on their plate. You know, I've seen so many different
guys come in and out of this clubhouse and across
their careers, you know, and they take the time to
to you know, spend some time and talk to me
and try and help me get better.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
You know, they didn't have to do that. They're not
obligated to do that.
Speaker 8 (08:57):
But oh man, I'll.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
Look up to both those And what did.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Alex do some specifically for you?
Speaker 11 (09:04):
Well, you know, he told me that basically, I'll tone
it down for the interview, say I gotta I gotta
not pitch the way that I was pitching soft and
doing this, and that I gotta start busting dudes inside.
Best way to do that is with the two seam.
So you know, I was living away from Righties Letty's.
(09:25):
I was doing okay, but living away from Righty's is like, Man,
that's not type of.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Dude you are. You gotta bust these guys. Andy to Hart,
you got different stuff.
Speaker 11 (09:31):
It's only gonna play better him Dubon Altuve, all these
guys I talked to about what a difference it is
to face a guy with you know, two or three
fastballs and.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
I was sowing one at a time.
Speaker 11 (09:41):
Then excuse me, start throwing the cutter and two seam
and it changed my season for sure.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
What's your family think about this? Man?
Speaker 9 (09:49):
You're on a team that is rolling into the playoffs
every single year and you're a big part of this.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Even a couple of years ago, you were a big
part of this. What's it feel like? I mean, it
feels good.
Speaker 11 (09:58):
I know, uh me and my dad and my mom
tell me all the time. You know that they're proud
of me, and that that feels good as it's hard
to make your parents proud.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
So hopefully I can keep doing that. All that's under Brown,
Thanks man, Thanks for appreciate it. Back with you guys.
Got John Singleton. He's double fisting. He's got a cigar.
They say, he's lively right now.
Speaker 9 (10:19):
John, gotta think back to about eight or ten years ago.
What's the difference between this clubhouse and the one you're
in right now.
Speaker 12 (10:26):
A lot of winning, for sure. I mean everyone in here,
you know, and they know what it takes. You know,
everyone goes out here and plays hard every single day,
and it's enjoy to be around everyone.
Speaker 9 (10:35):
What are the guys like. I know they're helping you,
and I know you're a veteran. You've been around this
game for a long time, But tell me about some
of the veterans how they've helped you become what you
are right now.
Speaker 12 (10:46):
Just the way they go about their business. You know,
they've won so many ball games, they've been in the
playoffs so many.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Times that you just watch them.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Yeah, essentially, you know they don't pay it.
Speaker 12 (10:54):
They go out there and play hard every day and
you can learn a lot just from doing that.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
You guys are gonna roll into the playoffs.
Speaker 9 (11:00):
You got a chance to rest a little bit, get
the pitching staff in the right order.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Have you ever played in the playoffs.
Speaker 12 (11:06):
Before outside of last year? Not really, So it's gonna
be very interesting for me. But it's gonna be a
lot of fun.
Speaker 9 (11:12):
You're gonna be a big part of this thing. You're
at bats and everybody's talking about this. Joey Swatta talks
about this all the time. He respects your at bats,
he respects your swing decisions. Where does that come from?
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Just from a young age?
Speaker 12 (11:27):
You know, I've always tried to drive a ball, and
you can't obviously drive every single ball. So I'll try
to be his patient. I hand and wait for a mistake.
That's honestly where it comes from.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
There you go, that's John Sieglemson. Thanks for catching up. Definitely,
thank you. Back with you guys.
Speaker 9 (11:40):
Ncer Erraic Getty, Oh my gosh, so he comes out
his walk up music is Ted Nugent.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
And who looks more like Ted Nugent? This vincer Eric Getty.
He's a MotorCity mad man. What's it like?
Speaker 8 (11:55):
Man?
Speaker 4 (11:56):
What do you know about Ted Nugent?
Speaker 13 (11:58):
I wish I knew more. I love his music. I
guess I look like him? According to you?
Speaker 5 (12:04):
When when did you?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
When did you ever hear Ted Ducha?
Speaker 5 (12:08):
My dad used to play it in the car sometimes.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Hate track.
Speaker 13 (12:11):
Yeah, yeah, CD player and uh, I don't know we
added a CD.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
I just kind of played in my room.
Speaker 13 (12:17):
And then obviously, you know, you get a phone, you
can listen to everything.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
I just kind of got into it. I like a
lot of classic rock, but great walkum song.
Speaker 9 (12:25):
Dude, you were bouncing around in sixth grade and the
Astros started winning big time.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Yeah, sixth grade, you're coming to the mini made park.
Speaker 9 (12:31):
You're watching You're watching Bregman and now too a Bang
and hit doubles and home runs. What's it like to
be a part of it? In watching JV Shove? What's
it like to be a part of this?
Speaker 13 (12:42):
It means the world to me, man, Honestly, like it
still hasn't really set it in.
Speaker 8 (12:46):
I guess the moment.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
The moment's incredible, though.
Speaker 8 (12:48):
I just I'm so happy.
Speaker 13 (12:50):
I'm so thankful this, this is this is my dream
come true.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Really.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
One of the things that we were noticing was.
Speaker 9 (12:56):
That the Astros were keeping tabs of how many things
you were pitching. You get to a little past what
you've ever thrown before, and it looks like you're pitching great.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Oh yeah, we saw on the sixth inning, I thought.
Speaker 9 (13:09):
You were melting. You're you're into a wall. We found
out later that it was a cramp. But how are
you feeling your arm feels good this time, this type
of year.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Fantastic.
Speaker 13 (13:18):
Actually, I was just telling Hunter earlier, I'm I'm surprised.
I feel like in the past, as season's go on,
I get tired. But I feel like this year, I've
the plan that I set out in the offseason, the
plan I've executed in season.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
I actually feel better than ever.
Speaker 8 (13:30):
I'm ready to go.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
It's funny what winning does for your arm.
Speaker 13 (13:33):
Yeah, winning in some adrenaline, a full stadium and into
mid park, you know, it's an incredible drug.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Actually, all right, I'm with Jason Hayward.
Speaker 9 (13:40):
Jason Hayward has made a big impression on this team.
He almost stuck his head into the out of town scoreboard.
When you almost stuck your head into the out of
town scoreboard, did you feel like it would get stuck.
Speaker 8 (13:55):
I didn't know how it was gonna come out.
Speaker 14 (13:56):
As one of those you go in you know what
you went in there with, but you don't know how
it's gonna come out, one of those like football type players,
a quick stinger. But but after that, it's like, okay,
let me just make sure everything's in one piece, you know,
calm down, so down, and let the game of the
excitement and the adrenaline takeover, and go finish the game
best you can.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Here's what I like. So you act like it's your
left wrist.
Speaker 9 (14:21):
You brace yourself against the out of town scoreboard, feel
like your top hand might be active.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Not might be active. Your next tab you go take.
Speaker 9 (14:33):
And it's one of the most beautiful swings that you
can imagine.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
You felt good. What's it feel like at the plate
right now?
Speaker 9 (14:39):
Four homers, last eleven games?
Speaker 14 (14:43):
Man, Just do my best to be present, do my
best to be present. Understand, they're gonna make pitches. Pitchers
are gonna do that thing they get paid to. But
just do my best to be ready on one pitch
at the time. You never know when they're gonna throw
something there that you can take a swing on it
and uh, you know, make a difference in the game.
And I think you know, I play like that one
going into the next Avat tells me thank you even less, right,
(15:05):
And so it's nice to not make too much. Just
go out there, put a good swing on something, and
if it's there, it's there, and you have a chance
to make a big event like that one so it's
not to see that one go over for shit.
Speaker 9 (15:16):
I listened to a podcast or not a podcast, but
an interview you had with Mookie Bets the day after
the Astros got yet and I was watching it.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
We were on the airplane. I was wanting to get
a chance to know you a little bit better.
Speaker 9 (15:32):
You were talking about and Mookie asked you about the
Chicago Cubs. You were able to make an impact. And
I know it's been talked about a lot, but as
a as a leader on a team, let's not talk
about that speech, but as a leader of a team, what.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Do you do to assimilate and become.
Speaker 9 (15:55):
A big part of what the Astros are trying to
do to get to another level?
Speaker 8 (16:01):
You know, first off, love move love movie Bets.
Speaker 14 (16:04):
Uh one of the best in the game, but on
and off the field and uh with the with the
pressure that he deals with on a daily basis very impressive,
you know, for how he goes about it. But as
a leader, I think, uh, you know, for me, it's
always started with focus on winning, focus on the group
around you, and just kind of learning, you know what
(16:25):
it makes everybody go right, Like there's gonna be some
days where somebody needs to pick me up.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
Developer relationships, develop relationships, and also just you know, when
when you see an edge you can give somebody, you know,
empower that because when we're all here because we're the
best in this game, we're all here because we're the
best at what we do.
Speaker 8 (16:43):
Sometimes we need to hear that.
Speaker 14 (16:44):
Sometimes it's nice to have that when you're you know,
you're in a down moment.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
And who was that guy for you?
Speaker 8 (16:50):
What's that?
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Who was that guy for you?
Speaker 8 (16:52):
Well?
Speaker 14 (16:52):
Fortunately, now I've been on a lot of special groups.
This one included that guys are there for me is well,
you know Alex Bregman, Osee al Tuve beat the Karattini,
you know justin Verlander.
Speaker 8 (17:07):
You know Maurizio Dubon Yo awesome.
Speaker 14 (17:11):
But no, everyone know, there's there's not been, uh no
one guy here that doesn't understand how hard this used
to do. You know, it's nice to see famliar Basis
Caleer Bergerson being another one. You know, it's nice to
see familiar faces. But everyone again just understanding that. Brian right,
We've got a lot of world champions in here. Do
they know what the ups and downs are that look like?
And they know how important it is to stay positive,
(17:33):
to have fun and with the tough times behind you
a little bit.
Speaker 9 (17:36):
Last thing, is there anything different about this Astros clubhouse
from a lot of of the other clubhouses that you
were on with great teams?
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Anything different?
Speaker 8 (17:46):
Anything different?
Speaker 9 (17:49):
Or or is there something very similar about these teams?
Speaker 14 (17:52):
I was gonna say, I feel like, uh, I see
very similar. That there's instant, instant responses to the leaders
in this clubhouse, right, so everyone prepares every day here,
they go work their ass off before the game. We
all lived those highs with live the lows of you know,
the success and the failure. But just uh, you know,
(18:15):
someone you know like your an't haven't as relate this
late in the year, you know, talk being out most
of the season, this team starting the way they did,
being down ten games, and being right here on the
last day. So but for me, those are the similarities
I see in the sense of answering the challenge. You know,
those challenges are always gonna be there, They're gonna be tough.
Plenty of opportunities to make excuses, and nobody here does
(18:37):
now one time, if we get beat, we get beat.
If someone better that night somewhere better that night. You
acknowledge that, and then after that come back. How can
I get them tomorrow? And I think a night like
last night, a night like tonight for us to be
on the other side of that and hold it right there,
win a game four to three. You gotta be able
to win a win from ball game, right, You gotta
be able to do it. So so that's uh, those
(18:58):
are the similarities I see, and those are always special.
I don't take those for granted one bit, because you
got to know how to do it.
Speaker 8 (19:04):
It takes the failure.
Speaker 14 (19:04):
It takes them get your teeth knocked in, and how
you respind is really rid of Corsey.
Speaker 9 (19:08):
All right, man, let's build a lot of memories. I
think the Astros are very lucky to have you. Thanks
for catching up.
Speaker 8 (19:14):
I appreciate it. I'm lucky to be here.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
After all that has played out.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Still hell as champions, your boys.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Some summer, no matter how you started, how you've finished.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
Continued to be the legends of the.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Fall or division champions. We got more work do.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
This is history late in October on repeat.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
We never underestimate the heart of a champion.
Speaker 5 (19:36):
This is another on October.
Speaker 8 (19:38):
Now we're fired up hear me going again in the.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Golden era of Astros spaceball.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Since you're here, let's go on one another.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Lived the post season on Sports Talk seven ninety
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