The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
09/05 Hour 1 - Go Ahead and Scratch Arrighetti from Starting a Postseason Game
The Killer Beast! ESPN 97 5 and 92 5 proudly present. The Killer Beast. It's definitely a fan of the Killer Beast. Don't sweat technique. Now from a Veritex community bank studios, bringing you the fastest three hours in Houston sports radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. [MUSIC PLAYING] What a face down. Hey, how are we doing? He's blank. I am Branham. It is Brian behind the glass. And it is a Thursday edition of the Killer Beast on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. We have a very busy show for you today. On the day the NFL season kicks off. Kevin Bowen will be joining us at 3.15 in the next 15 minutes to go beyond enemy lines. We'll go beyond enemy lines. Talk about the Colts. See what the Texans have on their hands coming up. It's on Sunday. Lee Sterling handing out winners. Brian made a little bit of money because of Lee Sterling this past week. Your parlay? What was the plus what? I turned a $50 bet into $6.61. OK, so a little bit. I don't know what the plus number one because Sean placed it for me. But I basically took all of these bets last week, except for the UT game, and put that on a parlay in one. Very good. Adam Rodus, we joining us at 4.15 to get all of the fantasy questions-- well, we're not going to let you ask fantasy questions because no one cares about your fantasy team. But all the important fantasy questions. We'll ask Adam Rodus. Bad take Boulevard. And we'll talk to Dr. Jesse Morse at 5.15 about this little Kyle Tucker. Hopefully we see him tomorrow. But Kyle Tucker, just the drama of the saga, will get a medical opinion instead of our medical opinions. We'll talk to him later on in the program as well. I'm sure we'll break down this Astros game that just finished a little bit earlier in great detail as well. But last night's game, I don't know where you're at, but you can go ahead, in my opinion, and scratch the whole Spencer Aragetty starting a postseason game for you. August Pitcher of the Month, rookie player of the month, I should say. Fantastic. All of that really got it going. It helps you with the five man, six man rotation. It makes you bullish about the future of this rotation. But we saw why veteran experience does matter when it comes to being able to get out of the first inning. Just get out of the first inning. So Aragetty with that start last night, I can't trust him. I can't trust him going into the postseason. He's had too many blowups this season. I'm out with Spencer Aragetty on making a postseason start. I kind of read my mind when I looked at the rundown, because when I was watching it all implode and I'm thinking to myself, that's the difference between a hiccup and a blowup. The fact of the matter is, is that Justin Burlander could have a hiccup enough that he would keep you in the ball game. And even if he left the game shorter than normal, in his normal five innings, he probably would have given up about four runs in that game and kept you somewhat above water and in it. Aragetty, on the other hand, we've seen it before earlier in the season. When he goes, he goes, and he goes full tilt. And that thing just kept getting from bad to worse to completely out of hand in the first inning, and you basically had no shot. And that's something you can't take the risk of having had happen when you're in a playoff series. No matter what, but when you're handing the baseball in such an important event as one of your top three pitchers, or in the case of a longer series for pitchers, I just can't see them doing that right now. Yes, there was a bit of Murphy's law when it comes to Aragetty's start, because he didn't pitch well. First batter, home run. He's not getting the swing and miss that he normally gets. He was asked after the game, too, if he felt like he was tipping and Aragetty's like, I really doubt it. Said if he was, then that's on him for allowing it to get to that point. And he said he would do his due diligence to see if he was. But he completely dismissed the idea that he was tipping. I think part of it was, hey, I'm going to take accountability for my poor outing. Now he did allude to the fact that he felt there was times earlier this year that he was tipping. I don't know if that was the case. Like the pitches he was executing weren't very good. There was times where he got soft contact. There was times when the defense could have helped him out. You know, that little fly ball in the center field. Tough play. If Chaz McQuarney makes that play, it's a really good play. So I'm not blaming Chaz McQuarney. But make a really good play. Help your pitcher out. The Jeremy Peña, Paul up the middle, that should have been an error, was not called an error, which really hurts Spencer Arighetti's line score. So like everything that could go wrong in the first inning yesterday went wrong. Arighetti was poor, wasn't very good. Tipped your cap, I guess, to the Cincinnati Red stockings. And then the defense wasn't very good that didn't help Spencer Arighetti behind him either. - Yeah, the defense has been a theme lately. And it's frustrating. I think, you know, we'll talk about, like as you mentioned, today's game, at least from that standpoint, I thought it was better, but I think that, you know, Peña, it's kind of in his head a little bit now too. But it hasn't been great lately. And you look at it and you say, okay, it's got to be better. And we know that we've discussed it. But overall, I just think that, you know, this is one of those series where it's hard to put your finger on the fact that whenever you play the Orioles, you play big series or big pitchers, this team just seems to rise to the top. And when you play teams that are down and out, like the White Sox, where you've had a hiccup or two, like the Reds, where you, you know, you just can't seem to figure out a way, that's what makes it so frustrating. Because you're coming off a roll where you dominated the Royals. You look like you were just going to coast past the Mariners and you were going to ride, you had a legit chance of catching the two teams in front of you to get a buy. And then you just completely crap the bed for three games and that's what makes you scratch your head. - Yeah, it was not a good series for the Astros, but talking about it from the Arageti perspective. Yeah, I mean, you have three guys ahead of you that you rather have in a playoff rotation. You know, we were kicking around the idea of Arageti or like Kakuchi, depending on the other team's lineup. So that conversation's over. It's Kakuchi, Kakuchi's higher on the pecking order than Spencer Arageti. And will this change probably? Like you still have four more starts for all of these guys, but your dudes up top are from Bern Hunter Brown, there's no debate there. You say Kakuchi to me is your number three. - And who's? - Right. And if you're having the conversation after that, Verlander, Blanco, Arageti, like I probably rather have Blanco, but they're going to give it to Verlander. That's your four man playoff rotation. Now what could really throw a wrench into this is that the Astros are probably going to be in the wildcard series. If they're fortunate enough to hang on to win the division. - Yeah, look, I mean, everybody's doing you a favor and you got a couple of solids again last night. You didn't get one from Seattle who finally found a way to scratch out a win. But overall, you just, it doesn't look like the writing's on the wall that you're not going to get that. And so you're going to have to be prepared for that. So therefore, you know, you kind of set it up like you just said and I think you nailed it. I think the three guys that were, I don't know for Brian for sure, but I think we're all pretty much in agreement that I would do the exact same thing. Go front or front or front or brown and then go to Kakuchi. And then you work your way from there. But I think from an org, excuse me, from an organizational standpoint, Verlander's going to be in the mix. I think that the wildcard's going to be interesting because I think Kakuchi is better and better prepared right now and all the way ramped up. But I just have a feeling that they're going to try and squeeze Verlander between now and the end of the season into that third start if they need one. - I mean, I do agree that if it's a three man rotation as you're in the wildcard series, that's the three. It's from her Hunter Brown at Kakuchi in that order. I do feel like judging Erghetti or basing it off last night's a little unfair and it's a little bit of a box score hot take 'cause you see the nine iron runs. But as Jeremy, you mentioned earlier, Jeremy Pinion makes that play, which I thought should have been an error too, but they didn't, they gave him the earned runs. Then he's out of the first inning after three iron runs. Now, he could have continued to blow up after that. So we'll never know for sure if he would have rebounded and settled in, but if he gets out of that inning with three iron runs and settles in and maybe gives you kind of what you're talking about, the Verlander where, hey, you struggle, but you get through five, you give up four, then I don't think the conversation today is the same as what we're having now. - Well, I think it was already a tie with Kakuchi and Erghetti. And maybe not even a tie, like it leaned towards Kakuchi. That was the conversation we had the other day is that if you're naming a three man rotation, you're leaning to Kakuchi over Erghetti, Erghetti's over your four, and you're kicking out Justin Verlander. Now, the difference between like Erghetti laboring and Verlander laboring is Verlander gives you innings. He gives you innings. Erghetti and yes, he could have had some help defensively. He didn't make it out of the first. That was very Christian Javier, game seven, ALCS of him. Like, couldn't get out of the first inning. - 'Cause now you're taxing the rest of the bullpen 'cause you gotta pick up seven and a third, and they're gonna have to all try and do their best to try and just keep it where it's at, even though you know for all intent and purposes, it's out of reach. And it just doesn't, it's not the same thing. It's like the difference between just throwing and the art of truly pitching, and Verlander can do that. I mean, he knew he was getting squeezed a little bit, but you know what, he still found a way to get out of bases loaded, nobody out, without having that kind of blowout, like you saw last night, and he ate up some innings. So, it's a tough call to make, and Brian, maybe you're right, because maybe it's the one game sample size that kind of throws you off, but you can't afford to have a guy that blows up to that level. You can't afford to have a guy that when things don't go exactly your way, that can't write the ship enough to kind of, you know, chart the waters and say, we're gonna be okay, I'm gonna make sure that we have a chance in this ball game. - I just don't know how you can put that out of your mind. Like, it's, it was such a bad outing that you know that he's capable of giving up a nine spot in the first day. Like, I laughed a little bit whenever they went to a break, and TK's like, Eric Genny gives up nine in the first. Like, that's a dream, like that's a nightmare. That's a parody. Like, he gave up nine in the first, what? Like, it was, it was funny. Like, it was funny to me, the way that he went to breaks in Eric Genny with a nine spot in the first. Like, okay, like you can't forget that. That's something that's going to live with you whenever you're deciding who's making both season starts. - Well, we've seen it before. - Should you get there? - It hasn't been to, that crossed my mind by the way, but the fact that he gave up nine, yeah, that doesn't always happen, but we've seen him not be able to get out of the first before this season. So yes, in August, he was rolling. He was fantastic. But overall, this isn't the first time we've seen this, which is why you probably raised your level of concern. - Yeah. Seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero, ESPN, 60, 30. Good thing is we brought Chaz back to this lineup has been bolstered. I mean, kind of, they kind of had to because of the paternity leave for Jake Myers. And then they had to make that transaction today 'cause you have to make a decision after the third day. So Myers was on the roster today, but was not actually in Cincinnati. But you had nobody else to play center field. So like, what are you gonna do there? And then Key from LA, what is tipping? Tippings, whenever you're giving up your pitches based on something that you're doing with the ball or the glove or your posture. The most famous one in Houston is Tyler Glass now in the playoffs, where he was like holding the glove up to his letters on breaking ball and he was putting the glove at his belt buckle with fast ball. So it's very easy if a hitter is able to pick that up. Oh, he's coming set at the belt buckle for a heater. Well, you know, a heater's coming. He's coming set at the letters with a breaking ball. You know, breaking ball is coming. And if you know the pitch, then it could be a bit advantageous because you can kind of spit on some pitches. You can kind of get your timing, all of that. So that's what tipping is where the opponent has your pitches based on some sort of body manner that you're doing. - Yeah, you watch the Mariners staff do it. They've all gotten into the habit. I don't know if they're teaching it in spring training now or what, but the other thing is whenever guys are we're going to change their grip for a breaking pitch. A lot of times the glove would wiggle a little bit. Now you see all the Mariners guys, they're wiggling their glove the entire time before they start going into the delivery. So yeah, I mean, it happens. You're right. The glass now is one that always comes to my mind too. You hope he wasn't. These kinds of things happen. They've happened in the past, but those things, you can clean that stuff up. I just don't trust him right now. In the case of Eric Getty, regardless whether he was tipping or not, I don't trust him to go out there in a playoff game and not have the better than average chance of blowing up a little bit. - My best guess is that he was not tipping though. Like he wasn't getting the swing and miss, but he also wasn't like, yes, he gave up some hard contact, but usually if you're tipping, like it's seed, seed, laser, seed, rope, seed, like there was some weak contact in that first inning. - There was, no, there's no denying that. I was listening to the game on the way home and Sparky was talking about the fact that the Reds have this guy that throws batting practice that tries to emulate as close as possible to a lot of guys deliveries and everything and tries to get the same kind of velocity. And he thought that kind of was a key if the Reds were kind of comfortable with the way he delivered the baseball and where the pitches were gonna be, regardless of what it was, they were on it. Home run double and then the doors completely get blown off. - Well, there's pitching machines that you can set up now where it shows you the exact arm slot and the exact pitch, velo spin that the pitcher's gonna give you. - That's pretty cool. - It's insane, like the stuff that they have that benefits hitters and it's still hard to hit. It's still hard to hit. - You know we're not far away too from the video screen with the ball release point two where they do that, where it looks like the actual pitcher on the mound. - Yeah. All right, 713-780-ESP and it is a busy show. All the guests coming up. Coming up next, we're gonna talk to Kevin Bowe and go outside of enemy lines a little bit beyond enemy lines. Talk about this Colts team. What the folks and India are saying about this Colts team, I'm sure they're confident. They can win this division. I'm sure they're confident that they'll win Sunday at home against the Texans. 713-780-ESP, ends the HRMP listener line, twitch, twitch.tv/ESP and 97-5. On YouTube and ESPN Houston on Twitter @ESP and 975, blankers at pack man Joel Bryan at SACT by BMAC. I'm at Jeremy Branham. It's the bees on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. (upbeat music) ESPN 97-5. (upbeat music) Broadcasting live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios. It's the Killer Bees with Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. On ESPN 97-5 and 92-5. Let's go straight out to the HRMP guest line being joined by Kevin Bowe and 107-5, the fan at this morning radio out in Indy. Appreciate the time, Kevin. Thank you for joining us. What is the buzz in Indy? 'Cause I think that these are the top two teams in the AFC South. I think the AFC South gets two teams in the playoffs this year being the Texans and the Colts. What does the Indy fan base think? What are the expectations from them when it comes to this Colts team? Yeah, I think it starts with a genuine entry, curiosity about their young quarterback and exactly what can he do. It's been a while since they've really had that, at that position and obviously last year, it gets short enough about four games. So I think that's where you start, you know, real entry and curiosity. Wait a minute, if you win nine games, Gardner Menchoo, theoretically, you know, shouldn't you win more with, you know, a guy that can offer some big playability. And then the other side of it is a little bit of like, hey, when is this gonna happen under Chris Ballard? You know, the owner praises him majorly in a public setting and yet you're currently in your biggest division drought and your biggest playoff win drought, you've been in about 30 years as a franchise. So I think those are probably the two prevailing thoughts with the fans with the fan base. Kevin, can you talk a little bit about this whole rivalry thing and the off season, the last game of the regular season, we all know about that. We knew previously the Colts always seem to have, you know, the number of the Texans. But how big of a rivalry is it right now? We heard about some of your players and some of the quotes coming out as camp started about, you know, CJ and his podcasting and talking and how the season ended last year. What do you, how do you surmise all that? - Yeah, you know, it's funny. I would say probably before last season, I don't know if lately the Texans had a whole lot of ammo to do talking. And then after I last season ended, I know the Colts have a lot of ammo to do a lot of talking in terms of just finding a rivalry. But, you know, certainly CJ and Kyle have made some comments about the city of Indianapolis and Dyer Franklin, who was the Colts because of leader, probably the leader, frankly, on the football team. He's not one to hold back when, you know, those comments are gonna be made. And, you know, you don't have any public comments from Anthony Richardson and CJ Strauss that are necessarily rivalry, you know, fate, if you will. But, I do think with Richardson and Schroud, their relationship to fate, that's kind of the elite 11 circuit a little bit there. Naturally, he had two teams in the same division. They have quarterback strapped in two and four. You know, you're probably gonna have some of that natural rivalry. So, you know, the fact that they play week one, after what happened on week 18, I guess there's some of it there, but, you know, to me, it's a tad overblown. I don't, I mean, maybe we'll look back and say, "Oh, the start of Raven Steelers" or something like that, but as of right now, I think it's just kind of a lot of chatter. Kevin Bowe and joining us on the HRMP guest line has been covering the Colts since 2011. So, has seen a lot of Colts victories over the Houston Texans and bringing up Anthony Richardson. I think he's, it's so mysterious because we didn't see him much last year. Of course, he has the flaw of not being very accurate with the football, but I thought he was pretty good last year. And, yes, he only played two series against the Texans, one of which was on a short field after a CJ Strauss fumble. But, there were two touchdown possessions where he was incredibly valuable to that Colts offense. And then, of course, what Steichen does offensively. We saw, you know, what he did with Jalen Hurts and Philly. How good do you expect Anthony Richardson to be this year? - Yeah, it's a great unknown. And I would argue the Colts probably have more volatile. They have their quarterback position than a lot of teams, though. League just with the fact that at sample size in Houston, that's the only time he's played on the road and it's been about career. I mean, the Colts had a guy on their team last year and then Jake Martin, who played more stats than Anthony Richardson. I pictured a guess 99% of Colts fans would think Jake Martin would be doing the state farm commercial. So, it's just, it's up to the age, you know? I mean, really, he's unlike any first-round pick, we've seen a quarterback in this league history, considering the lack of experience he had at Florida and just the lack of, you know, really great individual success in that one season as well. So, I think what the Colts fans believe and what, you know, the Colts believe is you can hit home runs with him and you can hit home runs with his legs and you can hit it with his arm in terms of taking some shots down the field. You're gonna live with the inability to get on base every at bat. This is not gonna be there. It's not gonna be some methodical, 70% faster, but if you can sprinkle in the home runs, you can live with it as long as it's in baseball analogy, the outs aren't, you know, strikeouts aren't big turnovers. You know, you had to pick six, for example, and their preseason, you know, dress rehearsal game. You had a fumble that, you know, could've obviously been an impact will turn over had that been a regular season game. So, again, big, big potential. I think they feel like should be there. And then it's, you know, can you make sure that the misses are just in completion then you end up driving and punt. If you can do that, I think you can live with something and really build something. - Kevin, I'm curious, last year, we kicked it around the other day. Jonathan Taylor, not that it was a lost season, but it was basically a rough season because of the fact you had the contract issues. You had the injuries, but now with him healthy, the contract behind him, and being through, you know, ready to go and healthy at the start of the season, how big of an impact is that gonna have for the squad? - Yeah, I frankly don't think we're talking about it enough here in our market, which might sound crazy. You guys consider any one for 188 and that's even finale. But, you know, this time last year, Jonathan Taylor was the Jamar Chase. He was the Brandon IU story. It was the contract saga. And then it was, you know, it was kind of a weird injury situation all year long. And then he erupts in week 18 and you're like, "Oh, wow, I forgot that at one point of this dude, you know, it's a league leading rusher by 500 yards, you know, based off who was the second in the NFL just a couple of years ago." So, he's a special special talent. And it was fun, I thought, you know, today in the locker room. And I'm like, you know, I think I know what's happened football decently well enough. You've never played with anything like Anthony Richardson at quarterback. I mean, when you think about it, the Colts have never had a quarterback with Richardson's leg, certainly here in the last couple of years. And Wisconsin football with Taylor did not have that dual threat type of guy either. So, you know, that weapon, I think it's something that can be really, really potent. And in a way, you know, Houston should know it's coming. They saw Richardson at its best in just a quarter last season. And then they obviously saw Taylor with an incredible individual effort there in week 18. Now it's combination of those two guys together. I think the Colts bank on that being lethal. And if it is, I think it's the team that can certainly, you know, play into the month of January with meaningful games. To be fair, Wisconsin doesn't really produce a ton of great athletes. We do know that. (laughing) But when joining us on the HRNP guest line, Colts win the AFC South, if what? If that lethal combination of Richardson and Taylor is healthy and if their defensive line is as good as they've invested into it, they have four first round picks and three second round picks along their defensive line. They have a lot of money invested in the group as well. And that's to me, the biggest key for them, certainly on Sunday, because they lack so much in the secondary, but really it's got to be all your long. So I would say that is the biggest. Those are two things, you know, you know, Taylor and Richardson help on the offensive side of ball and then that D line on the defense. - You guys had a good draft. We were talking about some, you know, a lot of the different things that are looking good for the Colts. From your perspective, looking at the Texans, you saw what they were a year ago. Now you see what they did in this off-season, whether it was the draft, whether it was free agency or whether it was the trades that brought you digs and mix. And what's your opinion of this Texans team going into this season? - Well, I think their biggest strengths is the Colts biggest weakness and that will match up like Sunday. That would be what the Texans have to white out and what the Colts lack in the secondary. So I think that's what kind of strikes fear. And at the beginning, they just won the division and they go out and they had a thousand yards wide out in a way they're kind of adding things down. I'm just reminding your audience, it's probably a meter of my our audience a little bit more that added into the 100 with someone the Colts really pursued. So I think there's a lot there. I get why all the hype is there and the Colts really journey is kind of running it back and hoping that Richardson obviously gives him a jolt. So I think all the public praise, all of it is very, very deserved. He gets you out of this incredible talent we call here in Big Ten Country and certainly lives up to it as a rookie. - Kevin, we appreciate the time. - Great stuff. I'm sure we'll do it again as the season goes on and we get the rematch here in Houston. Enjoy the game Sunday and enjoy opening day in the NFL. - Awesome, thank you for coming out guys. - You got it. Kevin Boat joining us on the HRMP guest line. It's funny, he brought up Jake Martin, formerly known as Jacob Martin, formerly Houston Texan played in more snaps than Anthony Richardson did last year. Former Texan, Jacob Martin, now known as Jake Martin played in more snaps last year than Anthony Richardson. He's an enigma, Anthony Richardson is. - Yeah, I think that, you know, obviously whether we follow him as closely as Kevin does or you just watch it from afar, we know what he did here, but we also know there are plenty of question marks and I think they're all centered around his ability to just, you know, be able to put the football and throw the football where it needs to be. You can't deny his athleticism, you can't deny his ability to run the football and you know you got a coach that's going to tailor to make a game plan for him, especially with a guy like Taylor behind him. Can you get him into passing situations? Can you make him throw the football? - Yeah, I think like you always won an early lead in football but like especially against the Colts, like force them into situations where he has to beat you with his arm. You spot them at 10-0 lead. - Oh man. - They're running a bit, you're playing right into their hands. So this week more than most weeks get the early lead against the Colts and plus 550 yards too, by the way, Anthony Richardson. I need you to surpass 550 rushing yards on the year and Brandon would be very happy with one Anthony. - Start next week. - Mm-hmm. I mean, I'd like, yeah. I'd like them to run for 175 yards in a loss. That'd be great for me. - Okay, as long as they lose. - That'd be great for me. All right, Astros got swept today against Cincinnati. They got swept against Cincinnati. Mariners already lead the A's. This division lead is shrinking in real time right before our eyes. What is wrong with the Astros? How much do you sweat in the fact they got swept against the Reds? 7-1-3-7-8-0-3-7-7-6. It's the B's on ESPN 97-5 at ESPN 92-5. Direct TV and Direct TV stream customers who have lost ESPN, including college football, Monday Night Football, ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, SportsCenter and more. Take action now, call 844-KeepMyESPN or visit KeepMyESPN.com. You're listening to ESPN 97-5. You're back with The Killer B's on ESPN 97-5 at 92-5. Life in the Veritex Community Bank Studios. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. - Tyler and Conro, I do not understand the intrigue around Anthony Richardson. He was not good in the SEC and wasn't a good quarterback last year. - The answer is simple, raw athleticism. That's why. The dude's a freak. He's a freak athlete. Like he's one of the freakiest athletes that I have ever seen. - Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing. We were just talking about it. You hope that there's truth to the fact that he struggles still to throw the football. I don't know how much you read into what happened between, you know, in the joint practices with the Bengals and all the crap talk that was going back and forth. But you know damn well that if you put him in space, he's hard to bring down. He's athletic as hell. And he can make plays. And then when you put one of the top five running backs in the league behind him, that's a problem because you got a guy as an offensive coordinator and head coach that knows exactly how to use those guys. And he proved it in Philadelphia. - Yeah, that might be the biggest kicker of all. And like we were talking about this before the draft. I do not want Anthony Richardson with Shane Steichen. I'm not scared of Anthony Richardson if he lands anywhere else. But pairing with Shane Steichen is like, it's a cheat code. You know a lot of what he said, it's a cheat code. - It's the second coming of Greg Roman with Lamar Jackson. When Lamar Jackson could have gone a lot of places and you would have questioned whether the system and the fit and the playbook and the coordinator would have worked. But when you took Greg Roman into the equation and then they completely redid their playbook to just completely focus on the strengths of one Lamar Jackson, they went nuts. And I think this has the same capability of working because of that thing. - Well Steichen being able to game plan for a running type quarterback. And Richardson having that freakish athleticism. - Grinding on coffee and whiskey, I'm doing half of that. And if he can stay healthy, that is a big, big thing. That is a big thing when it comes to Anthony Richardson. Never has really been healthy in his football playing career. So we'll say, you know, is he Mike Trout? And you know, a lot of times when you get freaks athletically like that, they tend to get hurt. Bo Jackson was so athletic he ran out of his hip. Zion Williamson was so athletic and duke he ran out of his shoe. Like, you know, sometimes there's guys that are that freaky, but a lot of, you know, it's strain on the body. And it's tough for them to stay healthy. Astros get swept. They lose to the Reds to not only they lose to the Reds today, they got shut out by the Reds. They got to be one to nothing by the Reds. The Reds, now the Reds do own the Astros when you look up the Reds on the Wikipedia or when you look up the Astros on the Wikipedia and it says owner, it doesn't say Jim Crane. It says the Cincinnati Reds. The Astros have not beaten the Reds in the Golden Era. Yeah, since 2016. It's insane. They were swept twice in the two series that they've played them recently in the last couple of years. And you speak about the owner, well, guess what? The co-owner and mayor has to be Tye France. The fact that Tye France went into his last at bat, nine for 11 in the series. We were talking about when the Mariners cut bait with him and ended up trying to replace him by, you know, adding some guys at the deadline. You're like, well, one, that's great for the Astros 'cause he was always an Astros killer in Seattle. But would you kick the tires on a Tye France to see if he could play first base too? He didn't do anything to tell me any otherwise with the way he played. Maybe it's just against the Astros, but good Lord, he was ripping the baseball. - He's been really good as a red, actually. And the Astros probably should have traded for him. Mariners, DFA dumb, Reds traded for Tye France before he went through the waiver process. Didn't cost him much. And would Seattle have traded France to a division rival? Probably not. So he might not even have been attainable. But yeah, he's been good as a, yes, he does own the Astros. King of Twitch, you got a little sassy with Twitter, and he's like, why would you trade for him? Well, one, so the Astros don't have to face him. But then secondly, as a red, and this was going into today's game. So this is actually to be enhanced some by his performance today. 99 at bats, he's hitting 303 with an 8.25 OPS as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. Like the dude can hit Seattle's just like, where hitters go to die. The leave Seattle, like Teoska Hernandez. Teoska Hernandez last year was awful, was bad. His numbers were poor. With the Dodgers this year, he's been pretty stinking good. Tye France, as a mariner this year, 223 hitter, 662 OPS. And 111 played appearances is a solid sample. 303 hitter is a member of the Reds with an 825 OPS. Tye France is a solid offensive player. And whenever they're facing the Houston Astros, he's a right-handed Babe Ruth. Yeah. And when they got Turner and they got a Rosarina, they had a hit here there where people were taking notice. But overall, those guys were struggling early on with the Mariners as well. It's a tough ballpark to hit. It's a pitcher's ballpark in a lot of ways. And it's just one of those situations where you look at a guy that was an all-star just a few short years ago in Tye France and said, that's a guy that can help somebody. That's a guy that hitting just doesn't completely go away to that level unless you're a guy named Abreu. But overall, I want to kick the tires on him. I want to try to get him. You're right. I don't think the Mariners would have traded him to you. But if there was a way you could have gotten your hands on him, you could have done a lot worse than what he's been able to do. Oh, yeah. He would have helped you. I mean, you're using Zack Dazinzo as a-- not that I dislike Zack Dazinzo, but you're using Zack Dazinzo as a first-pace platoon option. Tye France would have been a better option. Maybe they did kick the tires and the Mariners were just not going to do it because they're trying to chase you, which I get. Like, that is obviously a plausible scenario. But yes, you should have called. And maybe they did. 5798 is it fair to say the Astros were single-handedly swept by Tye France. You could say a good chunk of it. But the Astros' offense did not score a single run today. They wasted 100 Browns. Great start, six shutout innings. Rhett Lauter, who is a good pitcher, has tons of promise. A rookie, though, making what I guess third big league start. Astros couldn't muster a single run against the Cincinnati Reds today. You're not going to win a lot of games when you get four hits over nine innings. You're not going to win any games where you score 0 over 9. Right. I'm saying. So you had the combination. Well, I mean, the Reds only had six hits, but they had the one big bomb by France. The Astros got shut down. They don't hit the baseball. That's a big problem. And you're right. They wasted 100 Brown today. Because 100 Brown is a slump stopper. He's a guy, a streak stopper. He's a guy that did exactly what you needed him to do today. And unfortunately, a Bray you, you know, couldn't do it what he normally does. And, you know, when you're getting-- in most games, if you can't score it all, you're right. You're not going to win. But you hold the Reds to only one run. You should win that ball game. Yeah, that was a brutal game today. A brutal series for the Astros who fall to 75 and 65. A Bray you doesn't look himself lately. I'm wondering if that workload has led to some diminishing returns from Brian Abreu. Like leads the league in appearances. Like, it's tough for a spot. Because like you're climbing out of such a hole. But I'm wondering if that workload is starting to catch up to a Bray you. Because he hasn't looked this same. He has not looked as good over the last 30 days or so. So that's a bit concerning. Because he and Presley have not looked great. But also the fact of like what this does for you in terms of the race. One, it all of a sudden gives Seattle life again. Like Seattle, you were able to build the lead to six and a half. They have a chance, and they're winning right now, to make it four and a half at the end of the day. And they have a three game series against the Astros. So you have brought life back to the Seattle Mariners. And then secondly, that whole like avoid the wild card round by getting a top two seed and getting a buy out of the wild card round. It's not completely kiss a goodbye. But boy, it's starting. It's fleeting. It's on its way out the door. The chances of you getting one of those top two seeds have taken a huge hit with the way that you've produced this over the series. Yeah, you can't say you haven't had chances. You've had chances because the Mariners just keep giving you everything that you need to be able to just kind of step on their throat and put them to bed. And instead, you leave them hanging around. And if you leave them hanging around long enough, you might actually be in a race one more time when you sorely don't need to be in one coming down the home stretch. You've done everything to dig yourself out of this hole and get yourself in a place of command. And now suddenly you can't command the last series against the Reds and you're letting your letting, like you said, the buys getaway. You're letting Seattle believe they still aren't dead. And that's the scariest proposition because your schedule's tougher than Seattle's. And you just got to handle your business. And now you're coming home to play in Arizona team that's no slouch either. They're like red hot too. Like they're like 30 and 13. I think I heard TK say at the end of the game. So like, that's going to be challenging. Astros kind of play to their competition though. So like it wouldn't stun me if they take two of three against Arizona after being swept at sub 500 Cincinnati who for some reason owns the Astros. And now you're five games back of the guards too, by the way, for that second spot in the American League. So like it doesn't look great. It doesn't look great to get one of those top two spots. Now does that mean the Astros can't win it all? No. I mean, the Astros could sweep through the wild card, be fresh going into the division series and then run the gauntlet. Like it doesn't rule them out. I just don't like that you would have to play that three game series. I think it does make it more daunting. Now you have to beat another good team in a series in a three game series on top of it. Yeah, yeah. And that's, you know, it's the least ideal path to get where you want to go that you've been to and you want to get back to. And it's unfortunate because it looked like it was right there within your grasp. The Yankees aren't playing great baseball. The Mariners are doing your favors. They're taking care of them, you know, some of the lesser thans. When you talk about what the Tigers and the Angels were able to do to the Mariners, you're like, okay, I'm not, we were talking about it the other day. You don't, maybe you lose focus and stop looking at Seattle and start just focusing on Cleveland and New York. No one, hey, those are the teams where you, now you're chasing again, but with another, you know, carrot to be dangled out there that could be really meaningful for you. And instead where anything can happen, you're going to play a three game series. That's not ideal. Yeah, that's, it's looking like a long shot for the Astros to be a top two. And then now suddenly the AOS is a race again after it looked like we were crowning them division champs three days ago. Ocho guys that take full responsibility for Eric Getty's performance yesterday. Every time I brag on him, he pitches like bad word. No more bragging, no more Eric Godi. Yeah, I don't think you can brag after a nine spot in the first, couldn't get out of the first inning. Give him nine runs. Yeah, that was just ugly. And Ocho do you, but regardless, we just need him to be a whole hell of a lot better going down the stretch, regardless what the playoff match ups look like. 4255, a Bray has been shaky at best guys. You're right. He has been. And I'm worried that it's the workload. And you know, can you get them right before the playoffs start? If you are in the playoffs, hopefully, hopefully they can find formal at the right time. You just need the Astros to click on all cylinders at the right time. The pitching was clicking in August. You know, find that form. I'm still confident in the pitching staff. You need a Bray U and Presley to find it in October. You need the offense to click on all cylinders. The Astros can be tough if they click on all cylinders. I think the Astros win it all if they click on all cylinders. - I definitely think that they are the team to beat. We talked about this. It's crazy. And you know, people question, well, why do you guys, you know, have different opinions from day to day? It's because the team looks different from day to day. And cause every game is so hyper important. You're not coasting right now. Just cause you, you have this lead against the Mariners. Every game is hyper important. The Royal series is already so far in your rear room mirror that now you're focusing on as hot as they were coming out of Minute Maid Park with that sweep. They look like a totally different ball club playing at coming out of Cincinnati. Now, because of the fact that you have the talent that you have and you're presumably going to get Kyle Tucker back in the next couple of days, you're adding a piece that no other team is going to be able to add. If he comes in and he bolsters your lineup and he gives you that cornerstone right fielder. And now you have options. You have a deeper bench. You have more choices to work with if you're a spotter. And like you said, if that pitching staff continues to be what they were all in the month of August, you should be the front runner for the American League. Yeah, I mean, it's a sport too though. Like how many times have we seen the Dodgers win 128 games and then get ousted in the division series? Like it happens, Braves, it happens. So it's the sport on top of that. It's the fact that the Astros have been volatile, inconsistent. Some days they look like the best team in baseball. Some days, like especially early in the year and they look like they're one of the worst teams in all the baseball and then you throw in the fact that it's some coin flip sport in a potential three game series. The Astros, like especially in 2024, I think they could win it all. I think they could be eliminated in two games. Like that's the way the Astros have been this year. That's a scary part. You know what? I firmly believe they should be the favorite in the American League and I firmly believe they're going to get back to another World Series. But anything can happen and the hot team can beat you in a three game series. You're not talking about a longer series where normally the cream rises to the top and the better team wins, that is a massive fear of mine that they can get bumped out. And again, because at home, last year they struggled. This year, your Don has struggled at home. He's your best bat. Anything can happen if you play the wrong team at the right time, it's definitely something that scares me. - It's not even that though. It's just like, do the bad Astros show up for two days. Like the Astros have done this all year. Like the Astros have had weeks. They've had a couple of weeks at the beginning of the year. They've even, whenever they were playing better, they've had three game series, Allah Cincinnati, where they just don't show up. Like in Yes, tip the cap, all that stuff. But you do that for three days in October. Goodbye, your season's done. - I will say this. The one thing that does give me the most hope, even in a three game series, is the fact that Fromber Valdez and Hunter Brown lately don't look like they're going to falter. And if you put the ball in those guys' hands, I feel really, really good from a pitching perspective. - Like today it's Cincinnati. - Hunter Brown, but I'm just saying Hunter Brown, if he does that, I will live with the chances that at home they're going to score a run or two. - Lee Sterling, last week, won four of the five games he gave to us. Wisely, Brian didn't play the one loss, put it in a parlay, won lots and lots of money. Didn't buy his dinner with those lots and lots of money, but won lots of lots of money. Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports, can I hand out some winners next? It's the B's on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. - ESPN 97.5. [MUSIC PLAYING] - Coming to you live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios, it's the Killer B's. - On ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. - Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. - Time now to bring in Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports had a big week last week. Four and one, Brian took all the winners, somehow ducked the loser and made a little parlay out of it Lee, and won lots of money. Now, he didn't share that money with his host. He didn't, you know, bring up lunch. He didn't do any of that. But Brian was very thankful for your success last week, Lee. - Oh, yeah. When you spent three, four hundred hours during the summer, you want to come out when, in the first week or else, you just start questioning what you were looking at. So we went four and one on the show. We went eight and one for our clients and it was a lot of fun. So now, and that wasn't even the NFL starting this week. So it should be a great weekend. - Let's keep it going. Let's keep it going and let's start in the college side of things, some fun games this week. Let's begin in Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, giving up the eight points against the Hogs. What are you making to this one? - Both teams were impressive last week. The Cowboys won 44-20 over the SCS champions throughout the Dakota State team. And the Razorbacks, our console, Pine Bluff 70 to nothing. I have a feeling South Dakota State was really down this year. Our console offensive line, they're going to have to run the football. They only returned two starters on paper, but they do welcome in three transfers from Tennessee, Michigan State and San Jose State. And every starter's huge, 306 to 349 pounds. I have trust in head coach Sam Pittman to make this unit a strength as he's produced seven first round draft picks in 2013 with 15 players drafted. They're going up against the weakness for Oklahoma State, which is one defense. They're allowed 4.6 yards per carry last year. This Arkansas team is so pretty darn good as long as they don't get worn down. They just don't have the depth on defense. That's the key. If they can slow down the Oklahoma State running game, then they should have some success. Alan Bowman is good when they're running the football and he can use play action, but only completed barely 60% of his throws last year for only 6.8 yards per attempt. And only 13 touchdowns here. I like killing Green. I like the quarterback for Arkansas. He is a dual threat. And I think Arkansas, I think they got shot here. I'm going to call for the upset. Why not? Arkansas outright 3430 overall, Oklahoma State. Wow, that's a big one. And also another big one. I love this game. Texas coming in with confidence against the Michigan team that quite frankly to me was very unimpressive. That's a big game at the big house. How you see that one breaking down? Yeah, I think Michigan's going to lose two, three, maybe four games this year. Problem first off is quarterback. I mean, Davis Warren is the former walk on. J. Jim McCarty, I just think that the loss is going to be a lot. I mean, Warren is a game manager. On their force going drive, two touchdowns, two field goals. He only covered 26 to 47 yards. Their defense is going to be great. They're going to have two guys probably picked in the top 15. But the offense is so bad. I think it's going to put a lot of stress on this defense. And with Warren being a game manager's manager, I think Texas's defense is going to suffocate him. Maybe get a couple of takeaways here. They're not chopped liver either. They were good last week with Michigan's defense, only giving up nine rushing yards. The president of a Texas's defense gave up only nine rushing yards to Iowa State last year on the road. Texas has actually played better on the road. They won seven straight non-conference road games here. I think it's sitting at seven, seven and a half for a reason. I like Texas 28-14. OK, Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports. Last week you broke my heart, but you were right doing so. And you picked against Mike Cougs. Houston heading to Norman this weekend. Sooners, 29 point favorites. Mike Cougs have a shot this week. I'd love to see Oklahoma get knocked off. But I just think it's a bad matchup here. Do you think change coaches here six times in 10 years? I think Willie Fritz is going to be the guy. I know he's 64, but I've seen him build. I know some kids that have played for him at Tulane. They believe in him. It's just going to take time here. They've got to find a quarterback. And Donovan Smith was awful. I think Chris might end up playing here. They just need some consistency from that position. Once you fall behind, Oklahoma, you're in trouble here. So I think he's going to rebuild this team. It's just going to take some time here. Hate to say it, Oklahoma 51-10. OK, let's switch gears a little bit. Let's get to the NFL, right? OK. Kind of right down in your neck of the woods. You got two teams that either could finish as low as third in their division, or they could win it. You got the Dolphins. You got the Jags. Dolphins giving three at this point. What do you see there? So usually the Dolphins get off the quick start. It's 15 and 3 straight up, 12 and 6 because the home favored the last three years. Frequently, it's the heat. I mean, early in the season, that heat and humidity is south forward. It just does a number on these visiting teams. For Jacksonville, they're north forward. The climate isn't much different here. Miami's got injuries galore. Only Tyree Kiel and Jalen Watt are really the only receivers that are right now pretty healthy. So they might go with a lot of one running back in two tight end sets. Look for that in this game. And their offensive line, nothing special. Where's the Jags? Did a good job picking up Gabe Davis from the Bills. Devin Duvernay from the Ravens here. And also, don't forget Matt Jones. Came over at the backup. Knows this Miami defense well after facing in the last couple of years, twice a year. I think he's going to help out Trevor Lawrence here, especially in this scenario. I like Jacksonville. Pull the upset here, 27-24. Lee Sterling, ParamountSports.com, handing out winners. Last week, crushed it for you guys. Gonna crush it again this weekend. A game that I'm excited for. Everybody in the city is excited for. I think two playoff teams, a meeting in Indy on Sunday. Texan's a road favorite against the Colts. Is that OK? Is that fair here? I think so. I think the Colts team has got a lot of problems. I mean, first off, Josh Downs, the number two receiver. It's going to miss the early part of the year. It's got a high ankle sprain. What Houston did in the off scene is incredible. No, they had money. But I think they just got the right guys bringing into the pond digs and Joe Mixon. Now they've got maybe the best receiving core in the NFL with digs, Nico Collins and Hank Dell. And then the defense, which was their weakness. They bring in Daniel Hunter, Danico Autry, and also linebacker Aziz Al-Shahir. I mean, you put them with Will Anderson and Derek Stingray. This is going to be a strong unit here. And how bad is Indianapolis been to start the year? Well, they're 0 and 10. They've lost 10 straight open the year, and they're 1 in 9 against the spread here. So I think it's going to take Indianapolis some time if they want to come together. I think Houston's going to be firing on all cylinders. Sometimes you've got to lay it if you want to play it. Texans 31, Colts 21. Love that, Lee. Look, we already highlighted how successful you were. You've been successful as long as we've been talking to you. You had a great first week. Tell everybody how they can get connected with you so they can capitalize on this. Yep, just go to the website, paramountsforch.com. NFL is actually our bread and butter. I'm going to give them away a free game. Kansas City, Baltimore. Never done this opening night. Never given this game away for free. It's always so big. You want to get Kansas City in Baltimore. Be one of the first five callers right now. 800-400-9741. I love this game tonight. Give them Kansas City in Baltimore, Miami, 800-400-9741. And you want to hop on board. We hit our 40-unit best bet last week. Historically, these have been the bread and butter. In fact, going back to the last 15 years, we're 66 and 23 on our best bets. Our 40 to 50-unit plays. We hit Nebraska last week. We have another one in college football going on Saturday. You want to get this game. You want to get all our games. Nine to probably 13 games every single week. Just $497 for a month. We call it September to remember, $497 for a month of the entire season through the Super Bowl, $14.97. That works out to just $60 a weekend just one place. And we have a lot of other free pick videos up to check out ParamountSports.com. We've got free pick videos on Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, against Iowa State, and also Tennessee, North Carolina State. Check out those free videos for like two minutes in length. Up and available right now, everything is ParamountSports.com. - Killed it last week, and I have no doubt he'll kill it again. Lee Sterling, thank you very much. You can find them at ParamountSports.com. We'll talk to Lee next Thursday. Hopefully, off another 80% winning weekend like he had this past week. All right, 713-780-ESPN. Time now or forever holds your truth. What are your predictions for the NFL season? Who is your Super Bowl champion? Who's participating in the Super Bowl? Who's in the conference title games? Division chance, playoff teams, speak now. 713-780-3776, it's the B's on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. - ESPN 97-5, I assumed you knew. (dramatic music)