June 11, 2025 • 26 mins
On this edition of the Crawford Boxcast presented by Karbach Brewing, Chris Gordy and Ross Villarreal discuss the Astros' successful road trip, but now losing two in a row, including a stinker vs the White Sox - why are the bats so up and down this season? Can Christian Walker still turn this thing around.
The guys also discuss the latest on injuries, and take a very early look at the Houston Astros and the MLB Trade Deadline. Could they look to add a left-handed bat and a starting pitcher? Just one or both? What would they give up?
The guys also discuss the latest on injuries, and take a very early look at the Houston Astros and the MLB Trade Deadline. Could they look to add a left-handed bat and a starting pitcher? Just one or both? What would they give up?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Astros fans, cheers, Rocky Lucky, Welcome to the Crawford box Cast,
Houston Astros, proud leadboard for you by Crawford Bach from
Carmack Brewy. You're getting bear, Oh my goodness. The Crawford
Box Cast starts now Here we go. Here's Chris Gordy
(00:31):
and Ross Viail.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
And it is an all new edition of the Crawford
Box Cast presented by Carbock Brewing and the Crawford Bach
as your Houston Astros get ready for finishing office series
against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, and then is
the Minnesota Twins coming to town. And You're Astros now
(00:58):
on a little bit of a a little bit of
a skid, a little bit of a skid two game
losing streak. But we will get into all of it
here on the Crawford box Cast presented by Carback Berring
and the Crawford Bok Measure. The Crawford Bok made sure
during this home stand you are getting out to the
ballpark and enjoying the ice cold taste of the Crawford
Bach Brod right here in Houston, Texas and goes perfect
(01:19):
with watching Astros baseball. Anything you're having there at dyk
In Park or from the comforts of your own home.
I was followed up my mini fridge upstairs, replenishing it
with some Crawford Bach getting ready for this Astros home
stand and welcome you guys into the show. Chris Gordy
here along with Ross VII al and Ross a little
bit of a skid here. The Astros had a successful
road trip last week. They took two out of three
(01:40):
against out in Pittsburgh, ironically won the game that Paul
Skeen started, and then took two out of three against
Cleveland in a you know, an American League foe that's
right there hanging around right where you are as one
of the better teams. And to take two out of
three was good. But this home stand has not started
off well, getting getting beat by the Chicago White Sox.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
The White Sox are just too good, man. You just look,
it's the Chicago White Sox and they come into town.
You better be ready. You got to bring your a game,
otherwise it's just not gonna happen for you. That's how
good the White Sox are, or at least it seems
that way when they face the Astros. Yeah, frustrating last night,
getting the loss, getting going one for six with runners
in scoring position. Lancemac cullers Junior had back to back
(02:25):
quality starts. You were hoping for third in a row.
Just didn't have it necessarily with the control for walks,
racking up pitch counts, not getting as much swing and
miss as he had the previous couple of games, even
though he did end up with six strikeouts, but honestly,
him doing what he did, and then Bennett Su'sa holding
it down for six outs and then the rest of
the bullpen doing their thing. I think they didn't have
(02:47):
a hit did the White Sox after the fourth inning?
So yeah, you get a bases loaded situation in the
eighth with nobody out. Jerdez gets a sack fly score
a run. But then that's it. I mean, you got
to come through in these opportunities, especially against these bad teams.
Astros didn't do that, and you end up taking the
l yesterday.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah to me, mccullors, I mean, he's almost not even
the story of the game, and the story of the
game is this lack of offense. You know, this offense
that basically looks at the pitching staff and goes dude,
we're only going to get like two runs. Could y'all
like throw like a shutout, because that'd be great because
we just we can't timely hitting. We're not really stealing
that right now. Our bats were just really struggling to
(03:26):
score runs. So if you guys could pick us up
and just put up shutouts innings, that would be fantastic.
It's it's just a little frustrating that that that that
continues to be the storyline now. I will say with
the White Sox because I was looking at him before
this series. They split a four game series with the Tigers,
who were the best team in the American League, and
then they took two out of three against Kansas City.
(03:47):
So they are kind of hitting a little bit of
a hot street. Even the worst teams in baseball always
hit a little patch where they played good baseball for
about a week, and so unfortunately it feels like the
Astros are running into that with this White Sox team.
But said, you need to dig deep in and find
a way to win these next two because Astros happened
so good at home. They've you know, rarely lose at home.
(04:09):
The one series lost against the Giants earlier, you know,
to very early in the season. But what is it, ross,
What are you seeing? You talked to Brian Bogasvic. What
is it with the bats?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Right, Yeah, it's it's bad, and it's it's a case
by case basis everybody else's, I mean, everybody's going through
their own individual thing. But I think we can starry about.
You know, it feels like we're doing this every single
week now on this podcast, starting off talking about Christian
Walker and then going to the ideas and some other
guys who are struggling, but with Christian Walker. Dana Brown
earlier today on the Shawn Salisbury Show joins Wednesday's nine
(04:40):
thirty Sports Talk seven ninety talking about the bad batting
average with balls in play luck, which he is down
a little bit. His see, his career average is like
two eighty two or something. He's at two sixty one.
But that's minuscule. That's not a whole lot of bad
luck there. But some of his barrel raids, his XBA numbers,
stuff like that are actually consistent where he was last year.
(05:02):
So I can convince myself definitely that there is some
bad luck to Christian Walker's having that will hopefully turn
at some point, but also his strikeout rate is still
way higher than his career. His walk rate is still
way lower than his career, So that tells me swinging
a little bit too much, not taking enough pitches, and
(05:22):
not having good luck. It's all those things rolled into one.
It feels like with him that he is pressing and
he's having bad luck at the same time, and then
that's you're seeing. That's why you're seeing these bad results
that you're seeing at the plate with him.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, that Will said. I mean after last night's game,
he did have a hit, he did have a walk.
You know, the Nastar has had nine hits as a team,
so it's not like it was all that bad, but
seven runners left on base, one for six with runners
in scoring position. You know, it's two things gonna be
true at the same time. They can be a much
you know, they've been a really good team with two
(05:55):
outs this year. But yet still it feels like this
team struggles at times to find that clutch hit with
a guy on and you know, the timely hitting, you know,
and a big part of it is with Walker being
in that four spot so much this year, He's constantly
coming up with guys on basin just unable to come through.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, and you mentioned one for six with runners in
scoring position. That was Altuve at the plate with a
couple of guys on and he hit a single, so
that just loaded the bases. It didn't even drive in
a run, So you scored both of your runs on
sacrifice flies, so effectively driving in runs and runners in
scoring position. They didn't do it at all yesterday unless
it was on a sacrifice fly. Like they didn't get hits,
(06:33):
is what I'm saying. Yeah, so, uh, you know you
had those opportunities. And on the on the flip side,
the White Sox were one for seven with runners in
scoring positions, So it can happen. But you get all
those hits, you get all these base runners. You got
to capitalize at some point and they just haven't done it.
And it feels like the two years now we're into
this where we're talking about this, where they've they've been
snake bit with with runners in scoring position as a whole,
(06:56):
the offensive numbers have gone up, they've gotten better. I mean,
you are still we kind of zoom out and talk
about the forest rather than the trees. Jordon's been gone
as long as he has Christian Walker is underperforming, Yaner
Diez has been horrible, and you're still at this point
sixteenth and timops, which isn't a disaster, and most importantly,
the American League West is very winnable. I'm feeling very
(07:17):
confident they're going to do that. So the next conversation
becomes can this team be a World Series or Pennant contender?
And righte that And now at this moment, I say no,
you gotta get jord On back and he's got to
be himself, which he wasn't in the start of the season,
and then these these guys have to keep hitting. But
it feels like we could be playing the same podcast
from the last couple of weeks, Gordy. It's like we
(07:40):
keep saying, when are these bats gonna turn?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, and we're still on jord On watch, you know,
Potato monitor that whenever he starts swinging a bat again.
I think what the latest yesterday was that none of
basically what none of Jordon Alvarez, Chas McCormick or Zach
Desenzo are swinging a bat. That was yesterday from Joe
Espada and then pitching wise, Spencer Arraghedtty could start throwing
(08:05):
off a mound by the time they leave the next
their next road trip on Sunday, So that's good news there.
Raghetty's starting to maybe progress a little bit. But as
far as you know, can can we get some help
with the bats you're on Chaz and Decenzoe not swinging
right now?
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, it's it's certainly not helpful, but I mean, look,
Jake Myers had a hit and then know what, a
couple of games ago he had four hits. So he's
still kind of keeping up. And we keep saying when
when are things going to turn for him to the worst?
And you know he's gonna turn into a pumpkin like
we saw last year in the month of June, where
about ten twelve days in he's still hitting three hundred.
That's pretty good. Jeremy Payna continues to do his thing
(08:42):
as well. So you've got some guys who are hitting
and doing just enough. But it's if this team wants
to get where they're going to go, I mean, please,
at some point something has to has to work. For
Christian Walker. I don't know if he's just gonna need
to kind of crawl his way to the All Star
break and be able to clear head there, and same
thing for you and Ard he is, but something ain't
(09:03):
right with these guys.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
The would encourage all of you folks to check out
Channel at room stuff at the Athletic. He does a
great job. I was just reading his piece on the
trade deadline, which I think is about seven weeks away.
He kind of says like, all right, this is kind
of something to be watching over these next couple of weeks.
And he said, if Houston believes they could turn this
thing around, it's deadline will be devoted to augmenting an
(09:26):
offense that started Monday with a meager seven h two ops.
The team's performance in Alvarez's absence has provided at least
some optimism for what could happen when he returns, but
averaging four runs per game in his absence there seven
thirty two ops during that Spain is twenty two points
higher than the average major league team. But there's a
(09:46):
lot of thought that they could use a left handed
bat that they have gone through this season of not having,
you know, facing facing some pitchers that have kind of
had their way against him because you don't have that
lefty to kind of off balance things.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, and I mean, Jacob Melton is a nice left
handed bat to kind of put in the lineup, but
he's much better defensively at this point than he is
at the plate, and even as a prospect, not thought
of as some guy who's going to come up and
light the world on fire. So you've been seeing a
lot of Karatini, especially with Jordon out. But if and
when Jordon gets back healthy and you don't have that
(10:21):
DH spot to put Krotini in, and of course you
don't want to do it with Christian Walker and you've
been doing it somewa Josel Tuve, what's gonna happen? How
are you going to figure out a way to get
him in the lineup? But do you at some point?
I think we kind of talked about this in the
season preview. I called you crazy, Gordy. You're like, I
want to see more Karantini than Jiner, and I was like,
(10:41):
not more, but you know what I'm saying, more of
a closer to fifty to fifty. But I think, I
mean you're looking right on that where when Jordon comes back,
it almost should maybe just be a platoon versus Righty's
it's Kartini and versus lefties is well.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Chandler even throws out. He says, you know, if Walker
or Janar Diez could turn things around, that would be great.
But both of or both of them are having the
worst offensive seasons of their major league careers so far,
but are not in danger of losing their everyday jobs.
So if you're gonna make a trade at the trade deadline,
this is where you get really specific. He says, second
base is the only position where the Astros can make
(11:22):
a meaningful upgrade because they are not gonna move Altuova
out of left field to make that happen. So basically,
is it fighting an infielder capable of raising the offensive
floor at second base? So very easy, Ross, We're just
looking for a left handed second baseman who has a
really good bat and can play pretty good defense. I mean,
and he's available the trade deadline. I mean, that's so specific.
(11:44):
I don't know if they're gonna find that.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
How many and I mean, uh, second base is not
a naturally left handed oriented position. How many how many
lefties second basement are there even in baseball? I'd be curious.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And he's not saying that. It's just I know what
you're saying a left handed bat, but really, if you
go get one, where's he play? Because you know, if
you're UN's back, he's the evergay DH and al two
bays in left field and you kind of I mean
you're running platoon already in center right. So it just
becomes like, okay, if you go get an outfielder, well,
(12:16):
now you're limiting Jacob Melton's playing time or Cam Smith
or Jake Myers. So you know, it's like that's where
this gets really tough. It's like everybody goes go go
get a bat, Well, where does that guy play?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, you got to figure it out. I'm sorry, I
was trying to look up there. I don't think there's
it's like five guys who have played left handed second
base like since nineteen fifty So not looking good there. Well,
you got to figure something out and whether it's be
We've been talking about the pitching and a starting pitcher
would be nice, but yeah, something has to happen in
the lineup. And absolutely agree that that second base is
(12:48):
at the most natural place to try to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Well. Chanler also brought up about acquiring a starting pitcher.
I mean they did it last year at the deadline,
you say, Kakuchi turned out to be a very nice addition,
but you know, he basically says, like with what you're
getting right now out of your starting pitching, which you've
already lost two guys for the season to Tommy John
and you know, no offense to the guys at the
(13:10):
back end of this rotation. They're just you know, they're
doing this for the first time. Yeah, Gusto and Gordon
and Brandon Walter. It's like, you really could use that veteran,
you know, like Cacuchi was right, Like he was a
perfect fit because he was a veteran, he'd been around
a while, he knew his role, and he played it great.
You know, there is a possibility of getting back, you know,
(13:32):
you know, Arragetty's gonna come back at some point, but
Luis Garcia, Christian Hovey or JP Frantz, nobody really knows
what those guys are going to be and if they'll
come back, and if they do come back, are they
just a shade of their former selves and not fully
ready to go. So I think it's a great point
by Chandler. I think you know and I think you
don't limit yourself to say, oh, only this dollar figure
(13:53):
or only an expiring deal or whatever. I'll be looking
at all starting pitching because again, you know a world
where you're gonna lose Robber Valdez this off season. If
it's a guy with years left on his deal, then
that's even better.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, it's crazy how it just keeps happening. You're hoping
at some point the injury luck will turn for the Astros,
but I mean they're given whatever Tommy John Darter's there
are in America. Like it's like they need to discount
at this point with the Astros. This is out of
control and you kind of have the team building. We
were talking about this a couple of weeks ago. I
was asking Dana Brown about it. It's like you almost
(14:27):
have to change your philosophy of team building to where
he's always felt like and has always said publicly, you
can never have too much pitching, but you got to
just have a bunch of guys ready because it's going
to happen at some point. It's almost not an if,
but when the pitching injuries start happening every season.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
So I've not even started to look at this, but
if you looked at any of the trade deadline.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Trade deadline no, I have the MLB trade rumors is
going to become my friend very soon here, but I
haven't seen. I'm gonna be honest, I have really kept
too much of a on tapto what people are doing.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Read this for the first time. At let's go, he
is not available. Tyler Anderson of the Angels, left handed arm.
I believe his name's popped up the last couple of years.
I feel like at the trade deadline he's.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Been on the block for a while.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Angels outfielder Taylor Ward, you know he's okay. Jake Bird
a right handed pitcher from the Rockies. David Bednar, right
handed pitcher from the Pirates, Edward Cabrera, right handed pitcher
from the Marlins. Noticed the trend here, A lot of
bad teams a world as Chapman, you know, out of
(15:40):
the bullpen with the Red Sox. They think he could
be available. Kyle Finnegan, who's closed there for the Nationals.
Austin Hayes, outfielder from the Reds. Merril Kelly starting picture
for the Diamondbacks. Pretty good. So those are just kind
of the same. Oh, Zach, what is it Littel or
little Forgettel. It's Lttel Zach Littel from the Rays, who
(16:03):
we just saw pitched very well against the Astros, not once,
but twice already this year. So he would be an
interesting one, just kind of reading this real quick. He
makes five point seventy two million this year. He's slated
to become a free agent after the season, So that
is that's one. But you know, since early April he
six and two with a two eighty three ERA over
(16:24):
his last ten starts. That's really good.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
So pretty good.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, that that might cost you a premium. So and
then the other thing is people brought up you know,
do you trade from the big league club? Well, that
gets tricky because Chas McCormick has very little trade value.
Jake Myers has very little trade value. So you know,
when people want its prospects and they're not gonna want
to trade camp Smith there, I almost call him untouchable.
(16:48):
They're not gonna want to trade Jacob Melton at this point,
I don't think. I mean, he's their second best, their
number two prospect.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
You can move Melton though, And it's similar to honestly,
what low Berfido was is guy's kind of getting some bit.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I think role Shae Whitcomb probably candidate.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
What kind of value does he? Yeah, how much value
does Shae Wickham have for somebody? I mean, you need
somebody at second base, and they haven't been using Shaye
Wickham there just I mean what on Sunday? Yeah, and
then in a pinch hit roll last night for Jacob Milt.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
The other pieces. I mean again, Dubon has no value.
I just bring this up because I see people all
the time like trade Dubon and Chazz like, no, dude,
no one wants that.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, no one wants that.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And then they start get to get Yeah, well du bolle,
it's a gold glove, okay, but that's still nobody is
seeing that as a premium. They want the young people
to restock.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Their farm unless they literally want to bench utility bat,
which is what he is for you. He Dubon has
a role on this team.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt. So anyway, It's it's never too
early to start discussing this, but I gotta fill. In
the next several podcasts we will be delving into more
into the Drade deadline. And it is funny because we
came into the season ross thinking maybe you know, there
was conversation, especially from fans saying, are they gonna be sellers?
Are you gonna flip Fromber at the deadline? Are you
(18:01):
gonna be selling pieces off all the dynasty's dead? But
in turn they are buyers, Yeah, because you are leading
the American League West and you're absolutely a playoff team
right now.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, it was gonna basically take a disaster, especially with
things the way things are structured with three wild cards
and with the way that Jim Crane has run this team,
and to his credit, Jim Crane doesn't want to sell.
Jim Crane doesn't ever want to sell. He always wants
to keep the window open. That's what he said he's
gonna do as long as he's as he's owner. So
they're in frost place right now. So Fromber's gonna be here,
(18:35):
I think, and everybody else is going to be here.
You can get some internal growth and you could certainly
use a bat like we talked about, would have been nice.
What was Jorge Polanco was that they were going for
after the entire offseason. He's had a pretty nice season
for the Mariners, cooled off from his hot start, but
if you could have just plugged him in the lineup
every day at second base, figure something out with some
starting pitching, and they would be in a good spot.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
It would be and again like it could be simply
Brishan Walker heats up. Yeah, Jordon Alvarez gets back, and
it looks like Oldijordon. Like there's a lot of things
that could happen here that could elevate this team. And
we say all this to say they've been really good
over these last two three first place. They're winning series,
they're doing what they need to do. So it might
(19:16):
sound a little bit like doom and gloom when we
get into it, but it's like this team's still winning
games in spite of losing two starting Any other team
loses two starting pitchers to Tommy john and a lot
of times you're talking about cratering and falling apart. So
I think that's where you credit some of these young arms.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And you know what, You're right, we've got to we've
been too negative for a first place team. Right now,
Let's talk about some Jeremy Payne. It's been excellent. Jermy
Payne should be an All Star. He's leading all shortstops
and wins above replacement ahead of Bobby Witch Junior. And
who's the guy for Jacob Wilson, who's the guy for
the A's Deo Cremento A's it's playing very well for
shortstop as well, So he's been fantastic. You honestly think
(19:54):
about where you would be if you've got Jeremy Payne
of the last two years offensively, where are are you?
And Jake Myers of the last two years offensively? Where
would you be? Not like they're I mean, especially Jake Myerson,
like he's driven in like one hundred runs or anything
like that, But those guys have really been some bright
spots to where the bats have been bad to worse,
(20:16):
But those two guys continued to kind of help out
and contribute and be a big part of why this
team is kind of staying afloat along of course with
the pitching, and then of course the bullpen has been excellent.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
And if I told you Jeremy Pania was second in
the Majors in war.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Wow, I you know, Aaron Judge has got to be first.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
That is number one. It's Aaron Judge at five point
five second in the Major, Jeremy Pennie at four point
zero Wow, he continues great season. Last night I went
two for four, where the double gives him hits in
fourteen of his last fifteen games, and that stretch batting
four oh three. So he's been out he's been outstanding there.
And so again it's it's just he gets back to
(20:56):
that dugout, looks around and goes, hey, somebody pick me
up here, somebody hell us out. But yeah again, Astros
into today have a three game of lead over the
second place Mariners.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I was just pulling up that list. He's ahead of
Cal Rowley, Bobby Witch, Shoho, Tani Jose Ramirez. I mean, man,
that's great for Jeremy Payne.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It really is. And by the way, the Astros three
game lead in the AL West. They trailed the Mariners
by three and a half games on May twenty third.
I mean that's less than a month ago, less than
a month ross. They picked up six and a half
games in just fifteen games.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It's crazy. That's again, that's why you never shout out
the Mariners.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And look again, like as much as we're celebrating here,
the Astros could go on a skid and they will
get caught by one of these teams. It's a long season.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I mean, yeah, but we talked about this before the
before the year. I mean, the Mariners are at five
hundred ball right now. We talked about this being that
the Astros I said they're gonna win like eighty eight
games or something like that, which I don't know exactly
what they're pacing for now, but it's probably around like
eighties five eighty six or something like that. They're gonna
win somewhere around that many games and win the division.
And then the question is going to be will they
have enough, especially when rotations shorten. If I told you
(22:08):
it's it's the Astros offense with jord On and a
little bit of better hitting, and then it's it's Hunter
Brown fromber Valdez, Arrig Getty mccullors and whatever order you
want to put the last two in. They're in a
pretty good spot if you can just get in they
can have. They're gonna have as good of a one
two starting pitching punch as anybody in baseball.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, on the way out, I do you want to
give some love to the bullpen? I feel like, wait,
we have not done a good enough job of appreciating
what they've done. They were number two in all of
baseball for much of the season, and then they had
that stupid Raise series where they had the two blow
ups where they give up one are thirteen runs and
fifteen runs whatever.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yea Forest whitl is gone now, yeah forwith can't hurt
you anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Bullpenny alright, he has been designated for assignment. And you know,
typically when they say that it includes an assignment, there
is no assignment. The assignment is go home. I don't
know if any other teams will be calling. But so
they had ballooned up to number nine in the ra
in bullpen, which is still strong, I mean your top ten,
and they've since in that what was that two weeks
(23:12):
ago they brought that. They're now seventh, So they're climbing
back up that listic and because they're so good. So
again Ochred had a little bit of a hiccup the
other day on Sunday, but again you score two runs,
so I can't really it's the offense. It wasn't really
eat the bullpen's fault. But yeah, they just deserve a
lot of credit because all those guys, I mean, you
think of all the pieces you've lost from that bullpen
(23:33):
over the years from Ryan Stannik to Ryan Presley to
you know, Yemy Garcia, like just pieces that have coming, gone, coming, gone,
coming gone. These guys are getting it done. They're doing it,
night in, it, night out.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, it's it's been great to see these guys who
it was a big question mark, what's gonna happen after
a brallion Hater, Well, they're gonna be fine. These guys
are gonna all be pretty.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Good and shout out Saturday. It was I think the
first time this year felt like that Hater pitched in
a tie game, Yeah, the ninth, looking to send it
to extras, and he did his job. And then Bennett's
suss got to say.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
The same came up big six hous yesterday.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
But you remember last year, Hater kind of struggled in
those spots. Last year. It was so weird. It was like,
if you have the lead, he would protect the lead.
But in a tie game, yeah, several bombs, but he
did his job and that was that was great to
see it again. A big series, winning Cleveland. I can't
stress enough taking two out three against Cleveland. All these
teams this this series against the Twins coming up is
(24:29):
a big one. Because just in case something happens at
the end of the season and you're fighting for Walcart positioning,
you want to at least have that head to head
over some of these teams.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Yeah, for sure. But they're winning the West, I think
I believe so.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
But it's a long season and man, oh man, wait
for that schedule next week Ross where they have seven
games out on the West Coast, four against the A's
in Sacktown, and then three against the Angels, all eight
thirty eight or later, starting first pitch.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Wait, get your pot of coffee on, you get ready?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You stay up late.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, I'll be up. I'll be up. I'm just worried
about you folks.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I thought. Yeah, seventh inning gets pretty dicey.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
In some of those nine seventh inning stretch means seventh
inning sleep.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah. I will say pitchclock has helped. Yes, I mean
it used to be one of them games on.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
They're doing it all the time. They're breaking out their
like on Space City there Astros after Dark Graphics, you
had to do it every nine o'clock game. Now you
now it's going to hit or miss yep.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So we will get you guys caught up with all that.
But I want to thank you guys for listening to
the Crawford box Cast. Shout out to Carbock Brewing and
the Crawford Bock. They got you covered, whether you're at
the ballpark or watching from home. Ever, I go now ross,
whether it's gas station, uh, grocery store, wherever they got
the Crawford bock there.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I had one last night at the game.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Of course, all your liquor stores that you pop in at,
they've they've got them their total wine and specs in
all those different places. So yeah, wherever you're watching the Astros,
listening to the Astros, do so with an ice cold
Crawford Bach from our friends at Carbock Brewing. We'll be
about I got a cardbock real soon the end of
this month, doing another live edition of the Crawford box
Cast for osvere Al. I'm Chris Gordy. We'll talk to
(26:06):
you guys next week right here at the Crawford box
Cast
Astros fans, cheers, Rocky Lucky, Welcome to the Crawford box Cast,
Houston Astros, proud leadboard for you by Crawford Bach from
Carmack Brewy. You're getting bear, Oh my goodness. The Crawford
Box Cast starts now Here we go. Here's Chris Gordy
(00:31):
and Ross Viail.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
And it is an all new edition of the Crawford
Box Cast presented by Carbock Brewing and the Crawford Bach
as your Houston Astros get ready for finishing office series
against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, and then is
the Minnesota Twins coming to town. And You're Astros now
(00:58):
on a little bit of a a little bit of
a skid, a little bit of a skid two game
losing streak. But we will get into all of it
here on the Crawford box Cast presented by Carback Berring
and the Crawford Bok Measure. The Crawford Bok made sure
during this home stand you are getting out to the
ballpark and enjoying the ice cold taste of the Crawford
Bach Brod right here in Houston, Texas and goes perfect
(01:19):
with watching Astros baseball. Anything you're having there at dyk
In Park or from the comforts of your own home.
I was followed up my mini fridge upstairs, replenishing it
with some Crawford Bach getting ready for this Astros home
stand and welcome you guys into the show. Chris Gordy
here along with Ross VII al and Ross a little
bit of a skid here. The Astros had a successful
road trip last week. They took two out of three
(01:40):
against out in Pittsburgh, ironically won the game that Paul
Skeen started, and then took two out of three against
Cleveland in a you know, an American League foe that's
right there hanging around right where you are as one
of the better teams. And to take two out of
three was good. But this home stand has not started
off well, getting getting beat by the Chicago White Sox.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
The White Sox are just too good, man. You just look,
it's the Chicago White Sox and they come into town.
You better be ready. You got to bring your a game,
otherwise it's just not gonna happen for you. That's how
good the White Sox are, or at least it seems
that way when they face the Astros. Yeah, frustrating last night,
getting the loss, getting going one for six with runners
in scoring position. Lancemac cullers Junior had back to back
(02:25):
quality starts. You were hoping for third in a row.
Just didn't have it necessarily with the control for walks,
racking up pitch counts, not getting as much swing and
miss as he had the previous couple of games, even
though he did end up with six strikeouts, but honestly,
him doing what he did, and then Bennett Su'sa holding
it down for six outs and then the rest of
the bullpen doing their thing. I think they didn't have
(02:47):
a hit did the White Sox after the fourth inning?
So yeah, you get a bases loaded situation in the
eighth with nobody out. Jerdez gets a sack fly score
a run. But then that's it. I mean, you got
to come through in these opportunities, especially against these bad teams.
Astros didn't do that, and you end up taking the
l yesterday.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah to me, mccullors, I mean, he's almost not even
the story of the game, and the story of the
game is this lack of offense. You know, this offense
that basically looks at the pitching staff and goes dude,
we're only going to get like two runs. Could y'all
like throw like a shutout, because that'd be great because
we just we can't timely hitting. We're not really stealing
that right now. Our bats were just really struggling to
(03:26):
score runs. So if you guys could pick us up
and just put up shutouts innings, that would be fantastic.
It's it's just a little frustrating that that that that
continues to be the storyline now. I will say with
the White Sox because I was looking at him before
this series. They split a four game series with the Tigers,
who were the best team in the American League, and
then they took two out of three against Kansas City.
(03:47):
So they are kind of hitting a little bit of
a hot street. Even the worst teams in baseball always
hit a little patch where they played good baseball for
about a week, and so unfortunately it feels like the
Astros are running into that with this White Sox team.
But said, you need to dig deep in and find
a way to win these next two because Astros happened
so good at home. They've you know, rarely lose at home.
(04:09):
The one series lost against the Giants earlier, you know,
to very early in the season. But what is it, ross,
What are you seeing? You talked to Brian Bogasvic. What
is it with the bats?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Right, Yeah, it's it's bad, and it's it's a case
by case basis everybody else's, I mean, everybody's going through
their own individual thing. But I think we can starry about.
You know, it feels like we're doing this every single
week now on this podcast, starting off talking about Christian
Walker and then going to the ideas and some other
guys who are struggling, but with Christian Walker. Dana Brown
earlier today on the Shawn Salisbury Show joins Wednesday's nine
(04:40):
thirty Sports Talk seven ninety talking about the bad batting
average with balls in play luck, which he is down
a little bit. His see, his career average is like
two eighty two or something. He's at two sixty one.
But that's minuscule. That's not a whole lot of bad
luck there. But some of his barrel raids, his XBA numbers,
stuff like that are actually consistent where he was last year.
(05:02):
So I can convince myself definitely that there is some
bad luck to Christian Walker's having that will hopefully turn
at some point, but also his strikeout rate is still
way higher than his career. His walk rate is still
way lower than his career, So that tells me swinging
a little bit too much, not taking enough pitches, and
(05:22):
not having good luck. It's all those things rolled into one.
It feels like with him that he is pressing and
he's having bad luck at the same time, and then
that's you're seeing. That's why you're seeing these bad results
that you're seeing at the plate with him.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, that Will said. I mean after last night's game,
he did have a hit, he did have a walk.
You know, the Nastar has had nine hits as a team,
so it's not like it was all that bad, but
seven runners left on base, one for six with runners
in scoring position. You know, it's two things gonna be
true at the same time. They can be a much
you know, they've been a really good team with two
(05:55):
outs this year. But yet still it feels like this
team struggles at times to find that clutch hit with
a guy on and you know, the timely hitting, you know,
and a big part of it is with Walker being
in that four spot so much this year, He's constantly
coming up with guys on basin just unable to come through.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, and you mentioned one for six with runners in
scoring position. That was Altuve at the plate with a
couple of guys on and he hit a single, so
that just loaded the bases. It didn't even drive in
a run, So you scored both of your runs on
sacrifice flies, so effectively driving in runs and runners in
scoring position. They didn't do it at all yesterday unless
it was on a sacrifice fly. Like they didn't get hits,
(06:33):
is what I'm saying. Yeah, so, uh, you know you
had those opportunities. And on the on the flip side,
the White Sox were one for seven with runners in
scoring positions, So it can happen. But you get all
those hits, you get all these base runners. You got
to capitalize at some point and they just haven't done it.
And it feels like the two years now we're into
this where we're talking about this, where they've they've been
snake bit with with runners in scoring position as a whole,
(06:56):
the offensive numbers have gone up, they've gotten better. I mean,
you are still we kind of zoom out and talk
about the forest rather than the trees. Jordon's been gone
as long as he has Christian Walker is underperforming, Yaner
Diez has been horrible, and you're still at this point
sixteenth and timops, which isn't a disaster, and most importantly,
the American League West is very winnable. I'm feeling very
(07:17):
confident they're going to do that. So the next conversation
becomes can this team be a World Series or Pennant contender?
And righte that And now at this moment, I say no,
you gotta get jord On back and he's got to
be himself, which he wasn't in the start of the season,
and then these these guys have to keep hitting. But
it feels like we could be playing the same podcast
from the last couple of weeks, Gordy. It's like we
(07:40):
keep saying, when are these bats gonna turn?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, and we're still on jord On watch, you know,
Potato monitor that whenever he starts swinging a bat again.
I think what the latest yesterday was that none of
basically what none of Jordon Alvarez, Chas McCormick or Zach
Desenzo are swinging a bat. That was yesterday from Joe
Espada and then pitching wise, Spencer Arraghedtty could start throwing
(08:05):
off a mound by the time they leave the next
their next road trip on Sunday, So that's good news there.
Raghetty's starting to maybe progress a little bit. But as
far as you know, can can we get some help
with the bats you're on Chaz and Decenzoe not swinging
right now?
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, it's it's certainly not helpful, but I mean, look,
Jake Myers had a hit and then know what, a
couple of games ago he had four hits. So he's
still kind of keeping up. And we keep saying when
when are things going to turn for him to the worst?
And you know he's gonna turn into a pumpkin like
we saw last year in the month of June, where
about ten twelve days in he's still hitting three hundred.
That's pretty good. Jeremy Payna continues to do his thing
(08:42):
as well. So you've got some guys who are hitting
and doing just enough. But it's if this team wants
to get where they're going to go, I mean, please,
at some point something has to has to work. For
Christian Walker. I don't know if he's just gonna need
to kind of crawl his way to the All Star
break and be able to clear head there, and same
thing for you and Ard he is, but something ain't
(09:03):
right with these guys.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
The would encourage all of you folks to check out
Channel at room stuff at the Athletic. He does a
great job. I was just reading his piece on the
trade deadline, which I think is about seven weeks away.
He kind of says like, all right, this is kind
of something to be watching over these next couple of weeks.
And he said, if Houston believes they could turn this
thing around, it's deadline will be devoted to augmenting an
(09:26):
offense that started Monday with a meager seven h two ops.
The team's performance in Alvarez's absence has provided at least
some optimism for what could happen when he returns, but
averaging four runs per game in his absence there seven
thirty two ops during that Spain is twenty two points
higher than the average major league team. But there's a
(09:46):
lot of thought that they could use a left handed
bat that they have gone through this season of not having,
you know, facing facing some pitchers that have kind of
had their way against him because you don't have that
lefty to kind of off balance things.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, and I mean, Jacob Melton is a nice left
handed bat to kind of put in the lineup, but
he's much better defensively at this point than he is
at the plate, and even as a prospect, not thought
of as some guy who's going to come up and
light the world on fire. So you've been seeing a
lot of Karatini, especially with Jordon out. But if and
when Jordon gets back healthy and you don't have that
(10:21):
DH spot to put Krotini in, and of course you
don't want to do it with Christian Walker and you've
been doing it somewa Josel Tuve, what's gonna happen? How
are you going to figure out a way to get
him in the lineup? But do you at some point?
I think we kind of talked about this in the
season preview. I called you crazy, Gordy. You're like, I
want to see more Karantini than Jiner, and I was like,
(10:41):
not more, but you know what I'm saying, more of
a closer to fifty to fifty. But I think, I
mean you're looking right on that where when Jordon comes back,
it almost should maybe just be a platoon versus Righty's
it's Kartini and versus lefties is well.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Chandler even throws out. He says, you know, if Walker
or Janar Diez could turn things around, that would be great.
But both of or both of them are having the
worst offensive seasons of their major league careers so far,
but are not in danger of losing their everyday jobs.
So if you're gonna make a trade at the trade deadline,
this is where you get really specific. He says, second
base is the only position where the Astros can make
(11:22):
a meaningful upgrade because they are not gonna move Altuova
out of left field to make that happen. So basically,
is it fighting an infielder capable of raising the offensive
floor at second base? So very easy, Ross, We're just
looking for a left handed second baseman who has a
really good bat and can play pretty good defense. I mean,
and he's available the trade deadline. I mean, that's so specific.
(11:44):
I don't know if they're gonna find that.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
How many and I mean, uh, second base is not
a naturally left handed oriented position. How many how many
lefties second basement are there even in baseball? I'd be curious.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And he's not saying that. It's just I know what
you're saying a left handed bat, but really, if you
go get one, where's he play? Because you know, if
you're UN's back, he's the evergay DH and al two
bays in left field and you kind of I mean
you're running platoon already in center right. So it just
becomes like, okay, if you go get an outfielder, well,
(12:16):
now you're limiting Jacob Melton's playing time or Cam Smith
or Jake Myers. So you know, it's like that's where
this gets really tough. It's like everybody goes go go
get a bat, Well, where does that guy play?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, you got to figure it out. I'm sorry, I
was trying to look up there. I don't think there's
it's like five guys who have played left handed second
base like since nineteen fifty So not looking good there. Well,
you got to figure something out and whether it's be
We've been talking about the pitching and a starting pitcher
would be nice, but yeah, something has to happen in
the lineup. And absolutely agree that that second base is
(12:48):
at the most natural place to try to make it happen.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Well. Chanler also brought up about acquiring a starting pitcher.
I mean they did it last year at the deadline,
you say, Kakuchi turned out to be a very nice addition,
but you know, he basically says, like with what you're
getting right now out of your starting pitching, which you've
already lost two guys for the season to Tommy John
and you know, no offense to the guys at the
(13:10):
back end of this rotation. They're just you know, they're
doing this for the first time. Yeah, Gusto and Gordon
and Brandon Walter. It's like, you really could use that veteran,
you know, like Cacuchi was right, Like he was a
perfect fit because he was a veteran, he'd been around
a while, he knew his role, and he played it great.
You know, there is a possibility of getting back, you know,
(13:32):
you know, Arragetty's gonna come back at some point, but
Luis Garcia, Christian Hovey or JP Frantz, nobody really knows
what those guys are going to be and if they'll
come back, and if they do come back, are they
just a shade of their former selves and not fully
ready to go. So I think it's a great point
by Chandler. I think you know and I think you
don't limit yourself to say, oh, only this dollar figure
(13:53):
or only an expiring deal or whatever. I'll be looking
at all starting pitching because again, you know a world
where you're gonna lose Robber Valdez this off season. If
it's a guy with years left on his deal, then
that's even better.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, it's crazy how it just keeps happening. You're hoping
at some point the injury luck will turn for the Astros,
but I mean they're given whatever Tommy John Darter's there
are in America. Like it's like they need to discount
at this point with the Astros. This is out of
control and you kind of have the team building. We
were talking about this a couple of weeks ago. I
was asking Dana Brown about it. It's like you almost
(14:27):
have to change your philosophy of team building to where
he's always felt like and has always said publicly, you
can never have too much pitching, but you got to
just have a bunch of guys ready because it's going
to happen at some point. It's almost not an if,
but when the pitching injuries start happening every season.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
So I've not even started to look at this, but
if you looked at any of the trade deadline.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Trade deadline no, I have the MLB trade rumors is
going to become my friend very soon here, but I
haven't seen. I'm gonna be honest, I have really kept
too much of a on tapto what people are doing.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Read this for the first time. At let's go, he
is not available. Tyler Anderson of the Angels, left handed arm.
I believe his name's popped up the last couple of years.
I feel like at the trade deadline he's.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Been on the block for a while.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Angels outfielder Taylor Ward, you know he's okay. Jake Bird
a right handed pitcher from the Rockies. David Bednar, right
handed pitcher from the Pirates, Edward Cabrera, right handed pitcher
from the Marlins. Noticed the trend here, A lot of
bad teams a world as Chapman, you know, out of
(15:40):
the bullpen with the Red Sox. They think he could
be available. Kyle Finnegan, who's closed there for the Nationals.
Austin Hayes, outfielder from the Reds. Merril Kelly starting picture
for the Diamondbacks. Pretty good. So those are just kind
of the same. Oh, Zach, what is it Littel or
little Forgettel. It's Lttel Zach Littel from the Rays, who
(16:03):
we just saw pitched very well against the Astros, not once,
but twice already this year. So he would be an
interesting one, just kind of reading this real quick. He
makes five point seventy two million this year. He's slated
to become a free agent after the season, So that
is that's one. But you know, since early April he
six and two with a two eighty three ERA over
(16:24):
his last ten starts. That's really good.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
So pretty good.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, that that might cost you a premium. So and
then the other thing is people brought up you know,
do you trade from the big league club? Well, that
gets tricky because Chas McCormick has very little trade value.
Jake Myers has very little trade value. So you know,
when people want its prospects and they're not gonna want
to trade camp Smith there, I almost call him untouchable.
(16:48):
They're not gonna want to trade Jacob Melton at this point,
I don't think. I mean, he's their second best, their
number two prospect.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
You can move Melton though, And it's similar to honestly,
what low Berfido was is guy's kind of getting some bit.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I think role Shae Whitcomb probably candidate.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
What kind of value does he? Yeah, how much value
does Shae Wickham have for somebody? I mean, you need
somebody at second base, and they haven't been using Shaye
Wickham there just I mean what on Sunday? Yeah, and
then in a pinch hit roll last night for Jacob Milt.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
The other pieces. I mean again, Dubon has no value.
I just bring this up because I see people all
the time like trade Dubon and Chazz like, no, dude,
no one wants that.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah, no one wants that.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And then they start get to get Yeah, well du bolle,
it's a gold glove, okay, but that's still nobody is
seeing that as a premium. They want the young people
to restock.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Their farm unless they literally want to bench utility bat,
which is what he is for you. He Dubon has
a role on this team.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt. So anyway, It's it's never too
early to start discussing this, but I gotta fill. In
the next several podcasts we will be delving into more
into the Drade deadline. And it is funny because we
came into the season ross thinking maybe you know, there
was conversation, especially from fans saying, are they gonna be sellers?
Are you gonna flip Fromber at the deadline? Are you
(18:01):
gonna be selling pieces off all the dynasty's dead? But
in turn they are buyers, Yeah, because you are leading
the American League West and you're absolutely a playoff team
right now.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, it was gonna basically take a disaster, especially with
things the way things are structured with three wild cards
and with the way that Jim Crane has run this team,
and to his credit, Jim Crane doesn't want to sell.
Jim Crane doesn't ever want to sell. He always wants
to keep the window open. That's what he said he's
gonna do as long as he's as he's owner. So
they're in frost place right now. So Fromber's gonna be here,
(18:35):
I think, and everybody else is going to be here.
You can get some internal growth and you could certainly
use a bat like we talked about, would have been nice.
What was Jorge Polanco was that they were going for
after the entire offseason. He's had a pretty nice season
for the Mariners, cooled off from his hot start, but
if you could have just plugged him in the lineup
every day at second base, figure something out with some
starting pitching, and they would be in a good spot.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
It would be and again like it could be simply
Brishan Walker heats up. Yeah, Jordon Alvarez gets back, and
it looks like Oldijordon. Like there's a lot of things
that could happen here that could elevate this team. And
we say all this to say they've been really good
over these last two three first place. They're winning series,
they're doing what they need to do. So it might
(19:16):
sound a little bit like doom and gloom when we
get into it, but it's like this team's still winning
games in spite of losing two starting Any other team
loses two starting pitchers to Tommy john and a lot
of times you're talking about cratering and falling apart. So
I think that's where you credit some of these young arms.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And you know what, You're right, we've got to we've
been too negative for a first place team. Right now,
Let's talk about some Jeremy Payne. It's been excellent. Jermy
Payne should be an All Star. He's leading all shortstops
and wins above replacement ahead of Bobby Witch Junior. And
who's the guy for Jacob Wilson, who's the guy for
the A's Deo Cremento A's it's playing very well for
shortstop as well, So he's been fantastic. You honestly think
(19:54):
about where you would be if you've got Jeremy Payne
of the last two years offensively, where are are you?
And Jake Myers of the last two years offensively? Where
would you be? Not like they're I mean, especially Jake Myerson,
like he's driven in like one hundred runs or anything
like that, But those guys have really been some bright
spots to where the bats have been bad to worse,
(20:16):
But those two guys continued to kind of help out
and contribute and be a big part of why this
team is kind of staying afloat along of course with
the pitching, and then of course the bullpen has been excellent.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
And if I told you Jeremy Pania was second in
the Majors in war.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Wow, I you know, Aaron Judge has got to be first.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
That is number one. It's Aaron Judge at five point
five second in the Major, Jeremy Pennie at four point
zero Wow, he continues great season. Last night I went
two for four, where the double gives him hits in
fourteen of his last fifteen games, and that stretch batting
four oh three. So he's been out he's been outstanding there.
And so again it's it's just he gets back to
(20:56):
that dugout, looks around and goes, hey, somebody pick me
up here, somebody hell us out. But yeah again, Astros
into today have a three game of lead over the
second place Mariners.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I was just pulling up that list. He's ahead of
Cal Rowley, Bobby Witch, Shoho, Tani Jose Ramirez. I mean, man,
that's great for Jeremy Payne.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
It really is. And by the way, the Astros three
game lead in the AL West. They trailed the Mariners
by three and a half games on May twenty third.
I mean that's less than a month ago, less than
a month ross. They picked up six and a half
games in just fifteen games.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It's crazy. That's again, that's why you never shout out
the Mariners.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And look again, like as much as we're celebrating here,
the Astros could go on a skid and they will
get caught by one of these teams. It's a long season.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I mean, yeah, but we talked about this before the
before the year. I mean, the Mariners are at five
hundred ball right now. We talked about this being that
the Astros I said they're gonna win like eighty eight
games or something like that, which I don't know exactly
what they're pacing for now, but it's probably around like
eighties five eighty six or something like that. They're gonna
win somewhere around that many games and win the division.
And then the question is going to be will they
have enough, especially when rotations shorten. If I told you
(22:08):
it's it's the Astros offense with jord On and a
little bit of better hitting, and then it's it's Hunter
Brown fromber Valdez, Arrig Getty mccullors and whatever order you
want to put the last two in. They're in a
pretty good spot if you can just get in they
can have. They're gonna have as good of a one
two starting pitching punch as anybody in baseball.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yeah, on the way out, I do you want to
give some love to the bullpen? I feel like, wait,
we have not done a good enough job of appreciating
what they've done. They were number two in all of
baseball for much of the season, and then they had
that stupid Raise series where they had the two blow
ups where they give up one are thirteen runs and
fifteen runs whatever.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yea Forest whitl is gone now, yeah forwith can't hurt
you anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Bullpenny alright, he has been designated for assignment. And you know,
typically when they say that it includes an assignment, there
is no assignment. The assignment is go home. I don't
know if any other teams will be calling. But so
they had ballooned up to number nine in the ra
in bullpen, which is still strong, I mean your top ten,
and they've since in that what was that two weeks
(23:12):
ago they brought that. They're now seventh, So they're climbing
back up that listic and because they're so good. So
again Ochred had a little bit of a hiccup the
other day on Sunday, but again you score two runs,
so I can't really it's the offense. It wasn't really
eat the bullpen's fault. But yeah, they just deserve a
lot of credit because all those guys, I mean, you
think of all the pieces you've lost from that bullpen
(23:33):
over the years from Ryan Stannik to Ryan Presley to
you know, Yemy Garcia, like just pieces that have coming, gone, coming, gone,
coming gone. These guys are getting it done. They're doing it,
night in, it, night out.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah, it's it's been great to see these guys who
it was a big question mark, what's gonna happen after
a brallion Hater, Well, they're gonna be fine. These guys
are gonna all be pretty.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Good and shout out Saturday. It was I think the
first time this year felt like that Hater pitched in
a tie game, Yeah, the ninth, looking to send it
to extras, and he did his job. And then Bennett's
suss got to say.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
The same came up big six hous yesterday.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
But you remember last year, Hater kind of struggled in
those spots. Last year. It was so weird. It was like,
if you have the lead, he would protect the lead.
But in a tie game, yeah, several bombs, but he
did his job and that was that was great to
see it again. A big series, winning Cleveland. I can't
stress enough taking two out three against Cleveland. All these
teams this this series against the Twins coming up is
(24:29):
a big one. Because just in case something happens at
the end of the season and you're fighting for Walcart positioning,
you want to at least have that head to head
over some of these teams.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Yeah, for sure. But they're winning the West, I think
I believe so.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
But it's a long season and man, oh man, wait
for that schedule next week Ross where they have seven
games out on the West Coast, four against the A's
in Sacktown, and then three against the Angels, all eight
thirty eight or later, starting first pitch.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Wait, get your pot of coffee on, you get ready?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You stay up late.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, I'll be up. I'll be up. I'm just worried
about you folks.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I thought. Yeah, seventh inning gets pretty dicey.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
In some of those nine seventh inning stretch means seventh
inning sleep.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah. I will say pitchclock has helped. Yes, I mean
it used to be one of them games on.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
They're doing it all the time. They're breaking out their
like on Space City there Astros after Dark Graphics, you
had to do it every nine o'clock game. Now you
now it's going to hit or miss yep.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So we will get you guys caught up with all that.
But I want to thank you guys for listening to
the Crawford box Cast. Shout out to Carbock Brewing and
the Crawford Bock. They got you covered, whether you're at
the ballpark or watching from home. Ever, I go now ross,
whether it's gas station, uh, grocery store, wherever they got
the Crawford bock there.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I had one last night at the game.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Of course, all your liquor stores that you pop in at,
they've they've got them their total wine and specs in
all those different places. So yeah, wherever you're watching the Astros,
listening to the Astros, do so with an ice cold
Crawford Bach from our friends at Carbock Brewing. We'll be
about I got a cardbock real soon the end of
this month, doing another live edition of the Crawford box
Cast for osvere Al. I'm Chris Gordy. We'll talk to
(26:06):
you guys next week right here at the Crawford box
Cast
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