The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
9/20/24- Killer B's Hour 2
[MUSIC PLAYING] Now at T-Mobile, get four 5G phones on us and four lines for $25 a line per month when you switch with eligible traders, all on America's largest 5G network. [MUSIC PLAYING] Minimum of four lines for $25 per line per month without a paid discount using debit or bank account, $5 more per line without auto pay, plus taxes and fees and $10 device connection charge. Phones would be a 24-monthly bill credits for well qualified customers, contact us before canceling entire accounts to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement to bill credit and if you pay off devices early, ctmobile.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] Do these guys have any idea what they're doing? Probably not, but that won't stop them from making picks. This is busy money. It is time for the killer bees to give you winning tickets. What we do, what we do, we were two and two last week, we lost $20. We're five and four on the year, though, and we're up five bucks. We are winning, we're in the black, we are winners. So if you want to win, tell the killer bees. Brian, by the way, 3-in-1, first place in the killer bees, whenever he's making his picks, me, right smack dab in the middle with a clown to the left of me and joker to the right, I'm 2-in-2, and a dead last, cellar, weller, blank man, and 1-2-in-1. All right. Appreciate it. All right, bro, we'll go last place first. Oh, here we go. Let's just keep milking that cow. How can Billy Joel count them? Yeah, I see. Putting it right at the front and center. What is your first game you're selling to us, blankers? I'm selling to you the Chiefs at the Falcons. I just believe as much as the Falcons squeaked one out, because Philadelphia made a whole bunch of boneheaded decisions late in the game. I just feel like this is going to be another one of those times where Pat Mahomes in Kansas City let everybody know. They ain't going anywhere. Everybody's wondering, what are they going to do without Facheco? I think they're going to be just fine. I think this is a game where Atlantis, maybe not as good as a lot of people are thinking they are because they'd be Philly. And I think the Chiefs are going to make a statement. It's only a three-point game. That's what you normally see when you're a team on the road. I think the Chiefs are better than that, and I like them in the game. Yeah. This was a no play for me. If I had to bet one side of it, I would bet the Kansas City side of it feels like a small number. It feels very crappy to me. Kansas City kind of sleep walks through the regular season in a way. They don't put teams away like we think that they should be putting teams away. Kelsey's had a bad start to his year. I would be on the Kansas City side. If I was forced to play it, this was one of my no plays though. Yeah, same. I would like this better if it's two and a half, because I think the Chiefs win by Bill Gold, so I think this number's pretty good. But when you look at it, they tell you classically, home fields worth three points, and it's the three-point game. So I mean, that would tell you neutral site. These two teams are even. Well, I guess not me even, but I don't really buy this. I would bet the Kansas City side, but I'd like to keep it small. Yeah, let's go with a small bet here. All right, what do you want to do, 20 bucks? That sounds good. Sounds good to me. All right, first game that I'm going to sell to you guys as a two and two. I had like four games that I wanted to play this week. It was hard for me to decide between the ones that I ultimately decided on, which kind of worries me. But the first game that I want to sell to you, I'm tired of Denver. Tampa Bay's at home for Denver. It's a big number, six and a half points, but it's not big enough. Tampa Bay underrated, rolling. Denver Boneyx can't even get a play off to his huddle. The Broncos, not a good football team, with a rookie quarterback. They might figure it out a little bit towards the middle of the year. But Tampa Bay underrated, Denver no good, should be a bigger number. Tampa Bay giving six and a half points. Give me the bucks. Yeah, I'm with you on this one. I don't know that I'm with you with a big, big dollar figure, but I feel like Tampa Bay is more for real than I thought they were. And I think Boneyx and whatever Sean Payton thinks he's going to do with the guy he finally got to play quarterback. And when that happens, but it ain't going to be any time soon. And what I've seen so far of him has not been impressive. At Tampa Bay, I would expect him to win by a touchdown. Yeah, I like the Tampa Bay side of it as well. It worries me a little bit with Denver's defense, especially Cyptane. I mean, if he takes away Mike Evans, I mean, what does that do to the Tampa Bay offense? But I'm willing to go ahead and give the six and a half points here. I'd like to keep the bets smaller. Soft ease. Soft ease. Yeah, you all both said out little. You wanted to keep the bet. That cost us last week. Soft. What do you all think? In 30, 35, 75? No, no, you were right. I think the first 30. All right, $30. Brian, what's the first game you're selling up? The first bet is on a game, which I think the bet I'd like to place most on this game is the under, because I think the defenses are going to rule the day. We got the Chargers going to the East Coast for the second week in row. I know they stayed over in Charlotte, but that is a lot of-- that's a long time away from home. So it's not the second weekend in a row. They're playing it in their last week, though. Yeah, I know. But staying there, to me, is not two trips. I didn't say it was two trips. Was that it's a long time on the East Coast away from home? I think we're going to have to go to the Tampa Bay. Yeah, I think you said back-to-back weeks. I said back-to-back weeks that they're on the road. I didn't say they were traveling two weeks in the road. Anyway, we're getting completely away from the point. Point is Pittsburgh, great defense. Justin Herbert, not very mobile with the high ankle spraying, and I don't trust that offense overall against competent defenses. We know last week they faced Carolina terrible defense. Of course, they ran it all over them. I don't think they're going to be able to do it here. I think they get exposed for not having offensive weapons at wide receiver. I think Pittsburgh covers the one and a half. This is one I don't-- Herbert's ankle. It is in question, but I still think that that Pittsburgh quarterback situation, even with Justin Fields playing decent the first two weeks, is not something that I like. I would stay away from this game. But if I leaned one way or the other, I believe that the Chargers have more talent. Yeah, I hate this game. I hate these teams. Quite frankly, if I had to play, it was no play for me. If I had to play it, I would be on the stealer side. Can we play the under? The hurt though. We usually don't do that, though. We're usually very-- we're very simple. OK, that's fine. I would take the Pittsburgh side. The Herbert injury-- I'm not sure he's going to play. They listed him as questionable today. I mean, I'm sure he'll give it a run, but how effective will he be. First you face the TJ1. It's week three. Would it shock you if we get to game time, and Justin Herbert doesn't play? Would it shock me? If he doesn't play, the backup is Easton Stick. Yeah. Which is why I'm surprised it's still on the board. But if I had to play it, I would bet the stealer side. I don't love to play, but I'd be OK with a little bit. Two against one. Twenty-five? Well, I don't think we can go twenty-five. We were all on the Kansas City side, and it's two of one. I feel like it should be less than twenty. Let's find-- if you guys are willing to do less than twenty, I'm fine with that, because I'm out. I'm sick at twenty, but-- No, go twenty. Less than twenty feels really soft. So we'll go $20 on that one. Blank man. Second one for me. I've got a Washington team that still has a rookie quarterback. They're going on the road. Cincinnati looked for a majority of the game like they were the better team against Kansas City. They know that they've got work to do to get back in this thing and kind of resurrect the people that want to believe Jamar Chase, that they're the team to beat in the AFC. I think at home, I hate the number-- if it was six and a half, it would be a bigger dollar figure for me. But I still think Cincinnati beats Washington by more than a touchdown. Yeah, I hate the seven number of it as well. I didn't play it because of the seven number. But if I was gunned to my head, had to play it, I would take Cincinnati. I would stay away from it because of the seven number. I just don't like the pull touchdown. Cincinnati, we kind of seen them play down to the competition at times. They played up against Kansas City last week because they like to play Kansas City. They can their own narrow head stadium. I'm not convinced they get up for this game as much. Well, my record sucks and you guys are going against me so you don't have to bet it. I feel like we should go minimum, though, because we're degenerates. It was two to one, actually, on Cincinnati, so-- - Cincinnati, so I was the only one again. - Oh, oh, then you want to do the same minimum. - I know, you can still play them card. - I like to play a bunch of games. I, again, degenerate. - So we're doing 20 on Sensi? - 20, give me 20. All right, I'm going to go up to Seattle. I'm going to go up to the Great Northwest where the Seahawks are playing Schuyler-Thompson. Talking about travel, Miami has to go all the way from this corner of the map, all the way up to this corner of the map. That's tough. That's hard to do. - It's not easy, has to be the furthest travel in the NFL. Seattle, good. Miami, Schuyler-Thompson's the quarterback. Seattle's giving only four and a half points. I think Seattle wins this game by double digits and ends the career of Schuyler-Thompson. This will be his last and only start. They might have had previous starts, but this will be his last one. - I think Seattle's defense is really good. You know, if you guys know, I don't believe in the Geno. - Geno's been good. - He's been decent, yeah, but at the same time-- - Well, the few 300-yard passes-- - I don't like that number that high at four and a half. This was three, three, and I could see it. I don't like the number, but I believe Seattle wins the football game. So it's up to you guys in terms of-- - Are you putting it on me? - Yeah. - I mean, Seattle's just, I mean, they barely beat Denver. They had to go to overtime against New England. I just don't see them as a team that covers numbers like this. - Schuyler-Thompson. - I know, I know. But I mean, they're facing the Jacoby, Percet, and Bonix in those two earlier games and couldn't put those teams on. - They still have weapons. I just, I would stay away from this game. That's my lead. - Okay. - That's my lead. - Sounds like-- - Yeah. - Sounds like another 20 burger. - If you're the only one? - I thought he said yes. - No, Joel said he'd leave it up to us. - Yeah, I leave it up to you, but I said if I was gonna pick a winner-- - Set on my fence on it? - I'd fence on it? - Seattle side. - I said I'd lean on the Seattle side. - Okay, well then the-- - $20. - $20. - All right, what's your last one, bro? - My last one, going to the Texans division. Jacksonville's the dumpster fire. They gotta go to Buffalo, not the longest trip in the NFL, but you're going from Florida up to the Northeast there. It's a pretty far travel. Buffalo, a lot better team than I thought they'd be. Jacksonville's been awful. I think Buffalo crushes this one and wins by way more than five. - Look, Buffalo's been extremely impressive to me and Jacksonville has not. And again, I think that I expect the bills to win by a touchdown. I don't know that they're gonna win by much more than that. But if I'm gonna go on either side of this, I would definitely take the bills on this side of it 'cause I think that Jacksonville looks more like pretenders and I'm surprised to see it. Buffalo looks more like a contender than I thought. - Surprised? - Yeah. - I didn't think Buffalo with all that they've lost, both offensively and defensively with the veteran players that are going. I didn't think they were gonna be this good. - It's trying to help you. - It's 'cause you love their quarterback. - 7527, not the furthest travel they play in London, guys. Come on. - It's good boy. For a home game, for a home game. - Cotton and all United States, come on. - Domestically. I think Buffalo wins this game by double figures. I think they roll. I think they win by 11. That's what random analytics say. - I'm number-- - I like analytics. - I like Buffalo. - So what are you going to be doing? - So what are you doing? - Here seems like we're all pretty high on this game. - I say somewhere in the 35 to 50 range. - Let's go 50. - Let's do it. - All right. - $50. - $50. - The one team that-- - I don't know how you guys felt about this, but one of the games that I was really contemplating was San Francisco at the Rams. The Rams offensive line's depleted. They lost Puka, they lost Cup. I don't know that their running game is great because of that offensive line, but I think San Francisco is-- - I just worry about San Francisco 'cause no Fibo, no Kittle, no Christian McCaffrey, I don't want to bet on right now. - That's why they put it in there, but I would just agree if you guys thought. - I would agree with you if fully healthy, it's just three of their four best players are out. - Yeah, that's a no chance I'm playing that game with all the injuries in that game. The other games that I had on here that I really liked, I like Arizona plus three at home. I think there's a really good chance they win that game outright. I like Baltimore to win out right at Dallas. - Oh, I like that game, too. - I like Baltimore. - I'm a little, I don't know about Arizona yet, I know Brian was the first one to really get on Arizona, but I think Detroit is gonna come back, bounce off that loss to Tampa Bay and try to make a statement. - I also like Philly on the road in New Orleans. - I do too, I thought about that game as well. - Bounce back in New Orleans a little bit inflated, like the Saints are two and a half point favorites against Philly. - I like that one, too. - I don't think they're better. I don't think they're better than Philly. - I think Philly's a better football team, and I think this is where it kind of starts coming to reality for the Saints. - Yeah, I think you're right, you might be on to something. There might be a lot of points in that one. - I didn't play the over on that one. - Yeah, I think I like the overs and unders this week better than the lines. Like New Orleans Philly to me is an easy under, I like the under, or an easy over that is. - Which one? - Philly, New Orleans is an easy over, then I like the unders and the Giants, the Cleveland, I think that got a pretty good line. - You see the under and that? - Under and that? - I had the under and that. - And then under in Chicago and Indy. I like the under and that one as well. - Yeah, that one too, that one too. I lost the over under last night, though. I played the under. I played the over under. - I'm about to say that it was only 21 to 27 to. - I think it was like 34 and a half, something like that. I felt like the Patriots offense have been playing actually kind of well. I thought they were going to score a little bit, but they didn't score enough. - Now Ramanja was terrible. - I played, I played seven totals this week. That was the only over that I played. The other six games that I played, all unders. All, all unders. - That's right, that's the NFL right now. - All right, so we got Pittsburgh, 20 bucks, minus one and a half, Tampa, 30 bucks, minus six and a half, Seattle, 20 bucks, minus four and a half, Kansas City, 20 doll hairs for minus three points, Buffalo 50 doll hairs given a five and the Bengals 20 doll hairs giving the seven points. Speaking of that game yesterday, what did we learn from Patriots and Jets? I learned a couple of things. Take it on the other side. It is the bees on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. (upbeat music) - Live in the Veritex Community Bank Studios, it's the killer bees. Now back to Joel and Jeremy. Let's give away some tickets. Houston and Iowa State, a week from tomorrow. A big 12 tilt. Houston taking on the cyclones of Iowa State, September 28th, Saturday, TDCU Stadium. Family weekend, Hispanic heritage game and night of thrilling plays. Hard hitting action, unforgettable moments. Family night special, family entertainment for $80. Four tickets, four hot dogs, four drinks, all for 80 bucks. Get a game, you get hot dogs, you get drinks for $80. Go to uhcoogers.com/tickets. Call 713-Go Cougs to get your tickets now. Come early, be loud, wear red. Giving away a pair of tickets right now to the first person who answers the trivia question correctly. First person to answer this question correctly. Which Houston Cougar caught a touchdown pass in the 33-7 win over Rice last Saturday? 713-780-3776, 713-780-3776. Which Houston Cougar kind of touchdown against the Rice House and the body bucket this past week? First person to answer that. A pair of tickets coming your way to watch Houston and Iowa State a week from tomorrow. All right, what'd you learn from this Patriots jet scan that took place last night in New Jersey? New Jersey is where it happened. - I think the first thing that I've learned is Aaron Rodgers is still gonna, Aaron Rodgers, he's still going to be moody from time to time. He's still going to do his things, but he can still play a little bit of football too. And some of the passes that he made, including that touchdown pass in the corner that I have seen for too long to realize, not many guys can make that throw. If Aaron Rodgers can do those kinds of things consistently, as much as I was worried about my own pick of the Jets winning that division or being as good as I thought they were gonna be, when he plays like that, they have a chance to win every week. And I think the Jets are gonna be okay. - Where was he moody? - Oh my God, Jeremy, don't get it. I mean, there were times on the sidelines. When they showed him on the sideline, you can see in some of the interactions with the players. I know people are making a big deal of the thing with Salah. Salah, I actually believe them. I believe, but that's one of the things where he locks into his brain things that people say and never forgets him. And Salah had been very, very much stressing about how he felt about two score games. And they're acting and reacting to the hug versus whatever the awkwardness of it was, but you can read Rodgers's lips and he says two score game to where he's doing what his head coach was talking about. - Yeah, I didn't see any moodiness from Rodgers in that game yesterday. And I saw a lot of people trying to make a big deal of the non-hug. Salah went in for the hug. Rodgers is like, no, bro, hug for us. Florios over here, he's trying to stir it up on Twitter. You had WFAN, they had one of their hosts. I don't think he really respects him. Rodgers to Stala, did you see the stare at the end? Like people were making this this huge deal or like Rodgers doesn't respect Robert Salah. You, like you said, you can read his lips. He's like two score game. I don't think there's anything to that. I think Rodgers just kind of has that personality. I think he's kind of like, hey, you know, he's got a sense of humor. I think he's actually kind of funny. And it's like two score game, man, two score game. This is what she's been stressing all week, two score game. I didn't make much of that. I didn't see drama either. - He delivers those a lot of times with the straight face too. He's not gonna chuckle and he's not gonna like loosen up. He's gonna play the bit and play it out. And so that's what he was doing. I don't think it was there. I think there was, if you watch the game throughout the sidelines and some of the interactions, even with Hackett and the coaching staff, he's still, but it's because he knows the game very well and he knew exactly what they was talking about it before the game, how, you know, everything that Garrett Wilson saw so far this season was gonna be blanketed and it was gonna be tough to get him the ball. Well, he spread the ball around, but boy, that throw that he made to Wilson in the corner of the end zone in the front corner shows you that not a lot of guys can get that ball in that place and also not get it picked. And that was impressive. - Yeah, I thought the one that Mike Williams should have been caught too. That was a good throw. Williams had it in his hands. Kind of got broken up there a little bit. Alex's media needs stuff to talk about. What I learned in this game was that Aaron Rodgers just tatted up. I didn't know Aaron Rodgers was tatted up. Aaron Rodgers got tatted up. Maybe he got it during his little, what is it, a hallucistic retreat or whatever they call it? Maybe that's when he got tatted up. I had no idea Aaron Rodgers was tatted up and now I do. I also learned that the Jets aren't a bad football team. I don't know if they're good. I don't know how good they can be. I just know they're not bad. Like I know the Patriots are bad and the Jets they had their way with them. They easily beat a bad football team. So all I know about the Jets so far is that they're not bad. I think they still have a chance. I think they can be good. I just know they're not a bad football team. I still view them as kind of in the middle of the pack in the AFC. You have 16 teams. Seven of those teams are gonna make the playoffs. I think they're a team that's fighting for a wild card spot. I don't think they're a divisional champion good. I don't think they're like five and 12 bad. I think they're somewhere in the middle. I think they're gonna be fighting for the sixth or seventh spot in the AFC. - I think when you look at them too, the lucky thing for them is even if Rodgers played a little bit in the preseason. I don't think that's nearly enough for the timing that normally happens every year when he comes into camp and doesn't play much. And especially with a new team and teammates that he really didn't play with last year. You've got too much talent with Breece Hall and with Wilson and some of the guys that they have the line is better. I think that it's a blessing that they're gonna play their divisional games now as they get deeper into the season when they're starting to figure things out. And on the flip side, when you got sauce gardener and you got some of the game changers on the defensive side of the football for them, I think they're gonna continue to improve and get better and I'm gonna be really curious to see how they play against. 'Cause now with the dolphins, I think that takes a team that I thought was a possible playoff team and bumps them and notch down. That helps the Jets. Those Jets bills games are gonna be fun to watch. - Yeah, I don't know. I feel like the bills are just on a different tier than the Jets. - Right now, they look like it. I'm not gonna deny that. - Yeah, I don't know. Maybe the one in New York or New Jersey, maybe that will look tight. I have a tough time seeing the Jets beating Buffalo right now. Total Arlington, he looked old, he being Rogers. He looked old the week one, not so much this week. He does look a little bit more... - Seasoned? - Static, maybe. Like he's just maybe more stoic perhaps. I don't think he's as nimble as he was, which probably shouldn't be. He's a 40 year old that's coming off in a killy surgery. He did get tested on that a couple of times. Like he got hit. There was the time he was falling out of bounds with the guy like landed on his Achilles. I think he's healthy. I do think he lost a bit of athleticism though. - Yeah, and I think that this, as you said, it's natural for a guy his age. The one thing that he has got going for him is if you give him time in the pocket, and even when you don't, 'cause he's made some pretty decent decisions to move around in the pocket when it started to collapse, still made some throws. His arm is still top notch. When he's gotta make a throw, he can make it. And that's what's scary. I think to your point, the curious thing to me is at least you got a quarterback that can play in bad weather. If you play that Bill's game in bad weather, he's familiar with that. He's not gonna lose the game for you in weather like that. I don't think. - Yeah, he's played in some weather games. Text line, I learned that running back, Braylon Allen's gonna be a good one. I hate for Braylon Allen that he got drafted to his spot to a team that has Breeze Hall. Like he's gonna be blocked. - So he's gotten a lot of attention. I watched him play at Wisconsin. He's got all the talent in the world because with the size he has, he is athletic and he is strong and he's got some quickness. And he was on Twitter last night. And when people were saying, "How does Braylon Allen slide to the fourth round?" He goes, "It's real easy when I don't run as fast "as I'm supposed to in my underwear." So I saw some of the other comments say exactly what you said that if he was anywhere else in this league, he might be a bigger story, but he's got talent. - I mean, he had two touchdowns last week. I think that he jumped on the scene last week. People know who he is. You get a two touchdown performance in the NFL. You're gonna catch some attention and he caught some attention after last week's game. Rocky, you guys don't know anyone personally calm down. Rodgers don't respect anyone period. Well, how do you know him personally? - Exactly. - Like you're saying, we don't know him personally, but then you're talking like you know him personally. He says, "Screw him anyways." Dude wind when Rebay drafted Love yet didn't like far because of the same very thing. It's different. Rodgers didn't like the fact that they drafted a quarterback when he felt like they could have used wide receiver help. Jordan Love would tell you how great Rodgers has been to his career, Rocky. - And Rocky, go talk to Adrian and Paulie 'cause I watch this guy every week throughout his entire Packers career and all the press conferences and all the other stuff. And you get a pretty good indication of who he is, what he's about. And the one thing that I, again, I'm not selling him short on his football ability from a throwing perspective, it's still there. - All right, seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESPN. Let's get to Todd Callis, the voice of the Astros on the shin. Of course, on the call last night, we talk to the TV voice of the pros when we come back. It is the bees on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. - Double with two strikes and two out of the eight. - Coming to you live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios, it's the killer bees. - On ESPN 97.5 and 92.5. - Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. - We bring in the voice of the Astros, Todd Callis. Conversation brought to us by Gulf Coast Chevy Buick, GMC and Angleton start shopping for your new vehicle at lancecars.com. TK, great call. Last night was a fun one. That was a fun game last night. - Yeah, I got a little dicey for a while. They weren't able to get much going offensively, even with all those lead-off runners on. But John Singleton, hey, has come through before and he came through with a big double last night. That was huge, it could get a W against the legal payment. You should be, but you never know. You got to play the game the right way and continue to pile up with W's when you can. TK, I'm curious your thoughts on this. We've talked to and we interact with a lot of listeners, but a little concerned about the offense lately. We hear the rumblings, we see social media, but I don't think a lot of people were in tune with the delinquencies, but I'm curious your take on if there's any concerns about this offensive production lately. - I mean, it's a little bit, but it's a small sample size, right? You mentioned beef and the Padres in general have really good pitching. I thought the garbage looked really good on Monday night. So yeah, if they go three, the next three games against the Angels and they're scoring three runs or less in those contests and all of a sudden, I think you could be a little concerned. But if they do that against the Seattle pitching staff, then you're not as concerned, but we'll see how it plays out, but yeah, the last four games haven't been the best offense about put eight runs total in four games. But talk to me in three days, we'll see where we are. - Yeah, my weekend gets started here pretty soon. So I'm glass half full today, TK. And Kyle Tucker, I thought, was impressive yesterday. I know he didn't get a hit, but had a couple of long played appearances, especially the one in the first, Raul's the walk, one of the 0-4-2s, was that hard line shot to left field. You think he's getting, obviously he's getting closer to 100%, but he doesn't seem like he's too far away from 100%, especially when you consider how much he's playing right field lately. - Yeah, I think we're getting a fact. I don't know when Joe's spot is next off day, it's scheduled for him, but it might not be for a while 'cause he played three in a row, including travel. Now you're home for a stretch of seven games, including last night. I wouldn't be shocked if Tuck played all but one game in right field in the foam stand. And again, I don't know Joe's plan, but I think they want to keep pushing him. He's swing looking better. I think by the time we get to the postseason, Tucker's gonna be right where he was in the beginning of the year. - TK, what can you say about the performance, whether we all had reservations about the trade or not, about what Kakuchi has done since he's gotten here and the fact that we were talking about it earlier in the show, when you look at who he was going up in the same company with in terms of, how many consecutive wins to start a career with the Astros, that's pretty elite. And then the fact that he kind of took it to a step above last night. He doesn't have that blow you away, big unit, Roger Clemens, Furlander feel, but my goodness has he's been good since he's been here. - Yeah, he kind of goes through it and it's more stealth. It's not like overbearing and overpowering. - He gets the job done and next thing you know, he's gonna have two underserved out on the season between the Blue Jays and the Astros. So very pleasant surprise. I don't think I was the only one that spent at the time. And I think Dean Brown even admitted it. They had to overpay for Kakuchi. They sent three guys out that were probably more than they originally thought they were gonna have to spend at the trade deadline to get a guy like Kakuchi. I think a Jack Clarity had been made available a little more readily. He could have been a candidate to be traded over here, but I'm so happy they ended up with Kakuchi. I didn't know at the time how good he could be in the Astros uniform. Not only has he won every one of his nine stars, but he has been in perfectly in the clubhouse. Like the guys love him. He's just a perfect fit for this Astros team. And I'm very glad they have him. And you're right, he's already set up a franchise mark with his team winning his first nine stars that had never happened before. Ozwalt, the team won their first eight stars with Ozwalt this year. And then Berlin to the first eight stars. And now there's a new all-time leading up category and you think he's got his name in the Astros at the books now. - Be enjoyed by Todd Callis, voice of the Astros on the HRNP guest line. You look at lineups day by day, of course, and you have to fill them out. Today, you're on DHs, yiner down to the high spot, playing first base, the lefty lineup really for Joe Espada. How about the mixing and matching the Astros skippers having to do with injuries, production, all of these things? But I think the first year managers handled himself well. - Yeah, he's mixed a lot of lineups. There's no doubt. He's a United States show and Joe Espada has shown that when a guy gets hot, he's not afraid to move a guy up a spot or two in the lineup or if a guy's struggling to move him down a spot or two. So he's been put a lot with his lineup. I don't think he has a set lineup even as he's talking about the possibility of what happens in the postseason. I was serious to see when a Nick John Singleton would play in the series with three lefties going against the Astros in this series as the first three coming out of the rotation for the Angels. And he did start him yesterday, not starting him tonight. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I think John is the best on the first base than they have, the only guy that's a true first base went on the roster. And yiner's still earning over there. And we'll see how yiner does tonight. But there have been a few plays where yiner going through his right, just hasn't been able to make that play. Not his fault. He's a catcher by frame. He's learning first base and big league level. So it's going to be interesting to see how he misses the matches being the postseason against the leftie. But for tonight, we're here at Phoenix catching Berlin. He's got yiner over there first base. - TK, I'm curious with your illustrious career and all the baseball you've watched. Yeah, we all are scoreboard watching it this time of the year as well. Have you ever seen anything like the back-to-back debacles with the Mariners against the Yankees? - That was pretty bad. That was pretty bad. I mean, yeah, you've got to be a little smarter than that if you're a Victor Robles and know the situation when Luis feels struggling in the first inning. Two walks and a hit batter and a three-o-count on Justin Turner. I know he was trying to take advantage of the situation where he thought he did get the 90 feet to feel home, but that just wasn't the right spot. And then Julio Rodriguez just had to be in a little more quarter where there. When you've got that bad flying at you, obviously, you're trying to protect yourself. But then you have to immediately get back to the bag. You can't linger there. Like he did near many after a third base. So fortunately, it paid off for the Astros. Those two days running the stage. Seattle's still in the mix for the wild side. And obviously they're still in the mix for the engaging with the magic number of five. It'll take them probably sweet to the officers and a lot of helpful on the way. But they're still in the mix for the wild side and they're still teams. I would rather not be in the post-season with their starting rotation. So if you all plays out, they lose the tiebreaker to the twins and they lose the tiebreaker to the Tigers and they're two games fast. So they would still have to make up three games on both of those teams. So they would still be possible depending on what goes on the Houston and in all, I think, this weekend. Todd Cowles on the HR&P guest line. You brought to our attention last week too, kind of how the pitching rotation is shaping up. It seems like the big three shaping up really well for the Seattle series. And then who knows where you are in the standing with the guards, although it seems unlikely that you can be a top two in the American League and get that buy out of the wild card series. Seems like the pitching shaping up pretty good for a wild card series, is it not? - That is. And I was gonna ask you about this if and when they get to that point where they come into division. I don't think I want to put the car before the horse, but I want to ask them what they're thinking about. Rick Prober and Hunter after they pitch against Seattle. - So if Hunter's gonna go on Monday and Prober's gonna go on Tuesday and they can do to you on Wednesday, that wasn't my accident. Did they happen to have those three guys lined up for Seattle? They thought that out weeks didn't dance. And then if they are clinched at that point before they go to Cleveland, Hunter would then be scheduled again to go on Saturday and Prober, or still would be sent them to on Sunday and Prober wouldn't be scheduled to go again if they stay in that six-minute rotation. I don't think they would pitch Hunter on that final day, obviously. So he wouldn't be available in the postseason for that first round. So they'll probably skip Hunter. I don't know if they would throw him on the side for a couple of innings in that series against the Guardian. And they would stay in rotation for Seattle, go Hunter, Prober, to Cuchee, and then they'd go-- - Berlander for the first game in Cleveland. And then at that point, you would probably go with Spencer Arageti and maybe Renelle Blanco the last day. But if they want Blanco or Arageti, to possibly pitch again three, then you would hold them back. But I think you're right. I think it's saved up, where they don't really have to mess with their rotation too much. - I don't think they're gonna have to worry about going through the two feet. I think Cleveland's gonna have it locked up by then. But I think it's just a matter of staying in rotation, letting you guys pitch out of the rest of the season and have Hunter and Prober ready to go once the postseason begins. - TK, we know going down the stretch, you talked about it, we've had injuries and they're getting healthy. Presley doesn't pitch last night, anything to that, or just trying to give him a little extra, 'cause the bullpen really, for as good and as solid as they've been all year, it seems like the wear and tear is caught up on several guys, Taylor Scott included. - Yeah, I want to see good things from this point forward because it's been a little sketchy for Taylor Scott lately. And we were the best picture in that bullpen for the first three months far and on. I don't, you know, you can say it here, I got to take it at stage three. But Taylor was doing it in every situation, he was coming and made out anything, going multiple points, he was the opener. Got one day right at the trade deadline. We've stayed the bacon of that bullpen for the first four months, and unfortunately it looks like he's wearing some of that youth earlier in the season. So I want to see Taylor Scott finish strong. I'd like to see Taylor board bounce back after a disaster of batting in San Diego. I'd like to see Taylor Ferguson pitch well near down the stretch. There's going to be some decisions to be made in those final spots in the bullpen. I don't think it's quite as some drivers as we've been in past years. We can say we're kind of down to this final spot between one or two guys, I think. There's kind of three or four guys going for those last two or three spots. So all those aforementioned guys have to pitch well down the stretch. But I really want to see Taylor pitch well because he was such a big part of it in the early part of the season. - Todd, I want to go back to game two at San Diego. A wild game, Jose Altuve takes off his cleave, takes off his sock. Josh Haters back in San Diego is getting booed. You had some questionable umpiring. What is the balance for you when you need to bite the tongue but you're also trying to deliver to the audience? What is going on? What's that balance like? - Yeah, you try not to crush the umpires too much and I know we got on them rightfully so. That was just as poorly managed again behind the plate for Brendan Miller as I've seen maybe in a long time, maybe ever. - He just missed two-minute balls and not balls of strikes. Just the balls on the field and not having to do it in New York. - So he took that situation set on with Josh Haters stepping up for the winner on third. That was a debacle. - I could have been even, we could have been even more critical of what happened in New York and I think it probably warranted it. But New York can't take three to four minutes to solve that Josh Haters stuff off situation. It's a clear disengagement with a runner on third base. If there was a runner on first base, it would have been an easy call for whatever reason there were confused about it wouldn't be able to disengage before the first battle coming out of a bowl foam. So that needed to be sure that quickly, I don't know what Tony ran down so was looking out for that hit by pitch. No, no hit by pitch by Jurison so far. Even he said post-games. - Everybody in the stadium saw it on the screen man and gave it by pitch. I'm not sure how New York didn't be clear this again and it's for that. It was a poorly appreciated game of a poorly uppied game and they didn't get any help from New York in that series. So yeah, feel like your question, you try and fight your tongue to an extent but you also can't ignore it when it's bad, it's reasonably bad. - I thought y'all handled it perfectly, just your point. - Yeah, you guys were great. - Appreciate it Todd, have a good weekend, have a great call, we'll be watching. - All right guys, hopefully this time next week we'll be talking about getting ready for the postseason. Five to go and hopefully they'll be there within the week. - Yeah, that'd be a fun conversation to have. Todd Callis brought to us by Gulf Coast Chevy Buick, GMC and Angleton, start shopping for your new vehicle at lancezcars.com. Time out for who said it, Brian's gonna read us quotes that were said by ESPN 97 five personalities and then we guess who said it. It is the bees on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five. - It's now time for super producer Brian McDonald, AKA Tremach. - I am rude. - Did you his best to stump Joel and Jeremy? - Well, I'm stumped. - It's everyone's favorite segment. - 'Cause everyone loves it. - Yeah, everyone loves it. - I know. - Right, exactly. - Who said it? - He said it, he said it. - With the killer bees. - Who said it with the bees? B-Mac, Tremach tries to cut us down, we try to cut him down, we've struggled lately. - I believe one to four back to back weeks. - Oh for September, I think. - No, no, no, no, no. Oh, no, we won two weeks ago. - Did we? - Yeah. - Two weeks ago we won. - We've lost two games in a row, one to four. - Okay, Brian. - So I don't think the math checks out for you to have a win in September. - Yeah, we didn't. - Yeah. - We're all for September. - Last win was in August. - Oh, let's see if we can turn it around today. - All right, you ready for quote number one? - I think. - Okay, I like the enthusiasm. Here we go. I like, I like blown saves better than saves anyway. They're more fun because you have a chance to come back and win and be like, what an unbelievable comeback. - What? - Sounds, sounds kind of Paulie-esque. - I don't know 'cause the blown save means that the game lasts longer and Paul doesn't want more baseball. - He doesn't. He admitted today that he only cares but the NFL and the NBA. - There you go. - You need a further confirmation? - Hey, easy. We don't need your help in here 'cause you'll mislead the old. - I wasn't trying to help you at all. - Yeah, not exactly. - I don't think you pertain to the question. I don't think Joe would say that. This sounds to me like Lance. - One more time, Brian. - I like blown saves better than saves anyway. They're more fun because you have a chance to come back and win and be like, what an unbelievable comeback. - I kind of hear Dell. - I don't know. Dell also doesn't really love baseball. - But he talks Dell wants more baseball. - He leads his show with baseball. - Yeah, but does he want to, does he like a blown save more than a save though? - I didn't like anything. - This to me sounds like a Lance quote, like a Lance take. - How strong you feel though? - Pretty strong. - I don't know. - I mean, I feel stronger about Lance. I don't feel strong about any of my guesses in this game, but I feel stronger than Lance over anybody else saying this. Could Joe say it? - Eh, maybe. - Joe's a baseball guy though. - Yeah, but Joe has weird takes. - I don't deny that either. - So I think it's between Joe and Lance. - If you feel that strongly, we can't-- - I don't want to go Lance. I want to go Lance here. Get Lance. - I like the ball. - I don't think he's been a star. - Good call, good call. - He's the Lance take to me. Yeah, I was hoping he would go tall there, but you're right. - No, he doesn't want more baseball. - Yeah, that was-- - And Lance has some wonky takes. - We've tried to mislead us too, Brad. Jump right in there. - Yeah! - Yeah, okay. - It just felt like a land. - I was never trying to mislead you. I don't know what you're talking about. All right, call number two. - Yeah, but see, I see Bryce as a kid with a sweatshirt and a backpack. He needs to be at a skater park. Bryce Young, this is. It's a great take. - It's good. - Della or the G's? - I see, I was thinking Della immediately. - Yeah. - Thinking Della, but the C thing kind of throws me off. Like Della's not gonna say C that many times, I don't think. - I think he could. - You read it one more time? - Yeah, but see, I see Bryce as a kid with a sweatshirt and a backpack. He needs to be at a skater park. - See, that's not a very fluid sentence. - Della's usually way more fluid with his sitting structure. - Who do you think, I think it's Della? - I think it's either John or Joe. Wow, you can turn the corner, you change the hurry, then. - See, see. - Thinking more Joe than John though. It could also be Lance. He could go back to back Lance. Brian loves that move. - He does. - Can you say it again? - Yeah, but see, I see Bryce as a kid with a sweatshirt and a backpack. - He needs to be at a skater park. - I don't know. I'm all over the place on this one. - You called the first one right. - You wanna? - Not really. I don't feel very good about this one. - You wanna go and have strong, did you feel about Della? - I hear Della in the way he said it. - You feel stronger about Della than I feel stronger about any of my options now. - Yeah, but see, I see Bryce is a guy. - Wow, he's on it in a backpack. - He needs to be at a skater park. - Della's usually a lot smoother. I shouldn't say this. - I think Della. - Brian holds it against us. - I think the clue was skater park. Because only an old person says skater park instead of skate park. - Oh. - Oh. - That was a good call. - Yeah, I was hoping you wouldn't pick up on that. All right, quote number three. I didn't realize until I was reading it. It's like, oh crap, he says skater park. That's an old man thing. - Yeah, that would have been a giveaway. - Yeah, all right, quote number three. - He did something that's unforgivable. It should have been more of, oh, sorry, let me start that over. He did something that's unforgivable. It should have been made him have more red flags for every single NFL team. He said that the great Gatsby with Toby Maguire is his favorite movie ever. And Leonardo DiCaprio, that's one of the worst piles of garbage I've ever seen. And to me, that's, I want to take it off my draft board. This is a reference to Kyle or Murray. - Paulie, it's either part, Joe. - Yeah, I hear Paul in that, but I was wrong. So I'll let you differentiate. - So again, like, let's, okay, let's just know that we narrowed it down to Paul or Joe. Let's just end again closely. - He did something that's unforgivable. It should have made him have more red flags for every single NFL team. He said that the great Gatsby with Toby Maguire is his favorite movie ever. And Leonardo DiCaprio, that's one of the worst piles of garbage I've ever seen. And, and to me, that's, I would have taken him off my draft board. - I could see Dell saying this too, but then the, the, the, the sit-ins at the end to take him completely off the draft boards where it, I think we can cross Dell off. And it's long-winded, which usually doesn't bode well for Joe. So I'd be, I could live with the guessing Paul and being wrong. - I hear Paul and I know that he does pay attention to movies and such. - I think there's a wildcard Dell though. The last sit-ins though, I don't think Dell would say to completely cross them off the draft board 'cause he's not super hyperbolic or Paul is. So it's Joe. I'm cool, Paul. - Go Paul. - Paul, Paul, Paul. He did something that's unbelievable. - Yes, we've made him have red flags for every single NFL team. He said that the great Gatsby. - All right, up to one quote. - I never saw that. - I never did either. - He's serious, dude. - I think he was. - Yeah, I don't think, I think he was dead serious. - Wow. - No, I've never seen that movie either. The reviews are terrible. All right, quote number four. All the programs you think about having a chance at a national title, their quarterback is, as the kids would say, is a problem. Riley lit or ate a problem for anyone but Notre Dame. That's why they're Turkey. Dependable, hearty. Never gonna be anything special. Even if you deep fry that thing. At the end of the day, it's still Turkey. That's what Notre Dame is. - Turkey reference is a weird one. See, I know Dell and Joe talk a lot of college football. Paulie pays attention. John Betz on it. - See, I was gonna go, I was gonna go Dell with this. But the Turkey reference, I just wanna say Lance. And he knows dry meat. - And I think, yes he does. And I think that the Notre Dame reference, Brian could use to mislead me. Notre Dame, you think, Joe? - Yeah. - And he knows. - All right, let's say it one more time, please. Sorry. This is three. - Yeah, this quote number four. - Oh, four. Good work, two of one. - Yeah, you're two of one at a time. - All the programs you think about having a chance at a national title, their quarterback is, as the kids would say, is a problem. Rightly later, they had a problem for anyone but Notre Dame. That's why they're Turkey. Dependable, hearty. Never gonna be anything special. Even if you deep fry that thing. At the end of the day, it's still Turkey. That's what Notre Dame is. - I think it's Lance. - I think it is too. All right, let's do it. Lance Erlen. - All the programs you think about. - Hey, I didn't tell a go Turkey reference. - Well, you put on the set for most of the days. - It's a problem. - Rightly later. - But here we go with the scenario again. - You went Turkey. I can't believe Dell used it. I'm a little disappointed in Dell for going with the Turkey reference. - So why'd you think Dell wouldn't pull out a Turkey reference? - I thought he was cooler than that. - Okay, all right. Well, you say the Turkey's bad though. I think that's, is that agree with your mindset? - No, it's not so much about the actual taste or how you feel about the Turkey. It's about using it in a sports tech. - Okay, all right. Courtney. - All right, all right, quote number five, two, two. Here we go. Here's the thing. Oh, this is art about arched manning, by the way. Here's the thing. We can all admit why, okay? We see it. We see arched manning run. It's the, it's the color of his skin. Like I don't believe it. I'm just being, I'm just being honest. Talking about that long breakaway runny had it get in this last game. - Every bit of that to me sounded like Jim. - I was thinking more, Granado. (laughs) It sounded like Jim. - Yeah, but could it be like, huh? - Yeah. - This is what we're down to. - Can I say again, please? - I love that it's what the game is coming down to. Here's the thing. We can all admit why, okay? We see it. We see arched manning run. It's the, it's the color of his skin. Like I don't believe it. I'm just being, I'm just being honest. - So of the two, there's no question. Granado was going there first. - I think it's John. Like the caten's kind of makes me think Granado too. - Okay. - I mean, you've been hot today. So I'll roll everything. - I mean, I got one right. - But you were on the scent of the other ones that you weren't. So you've been hot at the meat. So if you wanna roll with Granado, I'll do it. - For the sake of time, let's go Granado. - Then here's the, we can all admit-- - Ah, dang, my best catch. - Who was it? - Joe. - Oh, skid, I don't believe it. - Yeah. - I'll be fine. - I'm just being hot. - Man. - We're close, but no cigar. - Got me. - All right, so old for September. - September's not our month. It's not our month. - We're like, we're like, we're like, we're like, we're like, we're Air Geddy. We were lights out in August. September, not so much. - I mean, Air Geddy's been good, except for far. - Oh, stick up for him, I was just kidding. - All right, let's get to DJB NMA. Covers the Houston Texans for ESPN, ESPN.com. Discusss the previous Texans win, and then who they got on Sunday against the Vikings. DJB NMA joins us next. It is the bees on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. - Owning a rental property sounds like a dream until you realize how much work goes into getting it ready. 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