The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
09/26 Hour 1 - Framber Valdez Is Being Disrespected, and We Won't Stand For It!
[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] A killer beast! ESPN 97.5 and 92.5 proudly present, the Killer B. It's definitely a fan of the Killer B's. Don't sweat the technique. Now from a Veritex Community Bank Studios, bring you the fastest three hours in Houston Sports Radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. Ooh, what up it's down? Hey! How are we doing? He's blank on Branham. It's Brian behind the glass. Thursday edition of the Killer B's on ESPN 97.5, ESPN 92.5 lots to get to on of injuries in Houston right now, which isn't great. Lee Sterling's going to hand out some winners at 345. Adam Rohn is going to get you ready for your fantasy football weekend. You're probably 0 and 3 because you're all a bunch of-- never mind, I'm not going to say that. Maybe you're 3 and 0. Maybe you're 3 and 0, but Adam Rohn is going to be here to help you with your fantasy football weekend. Bad take Boulevard-- it is a Thursday after all. We'll take the temperature of Stefan Diggs. Talk to-- go beyond enemy lines. Talk to somebody in Jacksonville. Ask them what's wrong with these jags. But we're the Killer Gs watching. This television right here says we cannot play this content. What are they trying to watch on the company television? It's a little-- You know how Paulie gets sometimes? I mean, yesterday it was a little bit tipsy, so-- Was he? He's popping bottles because of the Astros. Oh, was he? I brought it in studio and said he was a half a bottle down, so he went to coffee. I admire that. I can appreciate that. I have nothing wrong with that. Speaking of the Astros, which-- There's some things I don't like what's going on right now when it comes to the Houston Astros. Now, I still think that it's going to be OK, but we have some new information with your on Alvarez. This courtesy of Ari Alexander, who posted this video yesterday evening, or yesterday night, which some new information, new information that we have not heard from Dana Brown that was given to Ari Alexander. Credit Ari Alexander for this. Here was the interview with Dana Brown Astros General Manager. On the injury front, where do you think you guys are out with your on and how quickly you can see him back? Yeah, I mean, we just got to-- it's time, right? We got to wait for some of the healing. We have to wait for some of the swelling to go down. There's a little bit of fluid in the knee. Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what did he just say? There was one in the knee? There's a little fluid in the knee, Jeremy. Fluid in the knee of your on Alvarez. Fluid, that's the first time we've heard that, right? It's a fluid situation, Jeremy. Good one. But swelling is fluid. It is. So we already knew we had swelling, didn't we? Inflammation is liquid. I thought the swelling came out like day once. Swelling is just fluid. Sure it is. Inflammation is liquid. What about that? What is swelling? It's blood, blood is liquid, blood is fluid. OK, all right. All right, so maybe I'm freaking out about this and I shouldn't freak out about this. Well, I think so. I think if you were down to the Astros, you never know. But well, there's two folds to this, because, yes, inflammation is primarily fluid-based. But when you get bruising and things like that, too, you also get swelling with the muscles and stuff. But at the same time, when you're looking at this, we knew that it was going to be where they were trying to get more clear imaging once the swelling went down. So that is fluid in itself, too. So I guess in a nutshell, he said it. I wonder if they're going to drain this thing, though. I think they might have already done it. Like Dana Brown's talking about, we're going to give you more information Thursday Friday. He mentions in this, too, that the imaging and stuff is like something that they're going to look at again whenever the swelling goes down. I think they're going to drain this sucker. I think they're going to drain it, get out as much fluid/informulation. I mean, all of you should know that. A fluid inflammation that your word on Alvarez has in this knee, I think that he's going to go. I think he's going to have a little drainage done. I think there's a chance they might have already done it. Probably. Because of the fact that they know he doesn't need to be ready until next Tuesday, and then try and kind of speed up the process the best that they can, knowing that the real deadline is when the playoffs begin. So you might as well just shut him down and do everything that you can humanly can to get this thing as close as it can be. Now, this is not very uncommon with athletes. Like they have stuff drained a lot, like 3062. If you're having fluid drained off your knee, it's not draining blood. I imagine at that point, you're draining the inflammation. You're draining. Yeah, I've had I've had it done when I tore my ACL and you're draining, you're draining the swelling. So there's there's some there's some inflammation. I mean, there is blood that comes out, but it's not specifically just the blood. I've known I've known of a lot of athletes that have underwent draining throughout the year, several times throughout the year and didn't miss a game. Like they they played the entire year, whatever sport it was. So it's not uncommon in sport to have your knee drained, but I do and we're not saying that you're not having his knee drained, but just new information that he might potentially. Here's some more from Dana Brown. If you let the clip play out there, Brian, he talks about getting more imaging done. So if you're getting more imaging done, I don't think you're out of the water, right? Like you might it might be surface level. Let's just take a look to see how it looks. But if you're getting more imaging done in the coming days, you're not out of the water. You're not 100% coming back and playing on Tuesday. Here's the rest of that interview. For some of the swelling to go down, there's a little bit of fluid in the knee. We have to wait for some of that to settle. And now that we've clenched, we've given him that little extra time, but I have to try to rush it back. Hopefully he's going to be all right. Once the swelling goes down, we'll be able to see more and to what depth this injury is. But ultimately, our goal is to at least get him back for the closest. You have an idea of what it could be other than maybe a sprain or just what kind of the issue is. Now once the swelling goes down, we can get some more imaging. And before you know it, hopefully it's like Thursday, we'll have more information. Maybe Friday to share with you guys. But hopefully, you know, we get them back. That's our main goal is we're not worried about getting them back for Cleveland. We're worried about more getting them back for the closest. So they're going to go see more, look to see more, hope for having more information Thursday or Friday. Today's Thursday at 306. We're not expecting any information today, are we? I think that Dana Brown, that was one of his white lies, maybe unintentional white lies, but certainly not going to get information today, right? Off day in Cleveland, there's, I don't expect anything from them. And I don't think anybody else should. I imagine they're also traveling today. I don't think they would. You think they traveled after the game wins? I think what I heard the the the broadcasters on the TV side were kind of hinting that they were going to leave after the game to go to Cleveland. They'd have the full day off in Cleveland today. That's probably where they had a day game too. Like if you have a day game, usually you leave that night. So that would make some sense. Who doesn't want an off day in Cleveland? Yeah, Cleveland rocks. I see what you did there. It's actually better than it was when it was the mistake by the lake. They've done a lot to try and improve it, but it's still Cleveland. All right, so you hear that from Dana Brown. Where is your concern level with your on Alvarez's knee? Dana uses the word worry in the clip. Like right at the end there, the one thing that caught my ears is I were not worried about getting him back for Cleveland. We're worried about getting him back for the postseason, which kind of to me, it seems to kind of suggest that there's at least some concern and maybe that's just because they haven't had the follow up imaging. I think it's more that they don't care about Cleveland what they're really stressing is next Tuesday. Yeah, and I think the other thing, Jeremy, is the fact that the biggest worry you have is not having 44 in the lineup. So until he is and you see him and a spot of rights in the lineup, you should have a level of concern and worry that this ain't set in stone that you're going to have him in the lineup when the first pitch is thrown in the wildcard series. Yeah, I don't love that. I don't eat it. Now that was immediately after the celebration. So that was Tuesday night, things have happened. He also said that Yordon's been walking around better and they feel like the swelling has went down. They did let Yordon Alvarez speak to the media, which I can't really remember a time where they let somebody speak to the media and then they were like out a period of time. Like they never like Kyle Tucker speak to the media after his injury. Wasn't it Braggman that took it upon himself to talk to the media after the elbow? Yeah, man, he wasn't out a significant period of time. No, and the last time it happened to Yordon, Dusty got the hand wrong and he came out to correct that. So I think that it's up to the player if they're gonna speak. I don't think that the organization's gonna say at a certain point, we're gonna make you available to the media. Yeah, we know he's not going to Cleveland. Because it's Yordon Alvarez, my worry is a 10 automatically. Like I don't think he has a torn ACL, but in terms of his availability Tuesday, he's so important that my worry is at a 10. Now, gun to my head, do I think he's gonna be in the lineup Tuesday when the Astros open up the A.O. wildcard series? I still lean, yes. I still lean he will be in the lineup. Yeah, I think that the key is that we learn this with Kyle Tucker and with injuries. You don't have to have a torn ACL or MCL or PCL to miss significant time. You could have, you know, a contusion, a bone bruise, and then we get into breaks and sprains and everything else. But the main thing is, whatever he has, can you get it to a point where he can play starting Tuesday? And I think that that's gonna be their number one focus. I mean, but because we don't have a stable relationship with solid answers from anybody in the organization, you should have a concern. My concern level is 10 because without him, I don't think you're chasing a World Series title. I mean, I think you're fighting at tooth and nail every step of the way. I think with him, there should be a level of confidence. This team can play with anybody. And that's why it should be at a 10. I think they can win it all without him, but your odds go significantly down, significantly down. I just don't, I just, I think without him, - They want a World Series without him before. - I just think without him this year, I feel like they can't win a title without him. - They would have to win a bunch of two won games. I think they have the pitching staff that they could do it. But if you had the Astros, like I haven't seen what the fan graphs odds are for the Astros to win the World Series. If you're on Alvarez is in the Astros lineup, what is the blank graph chances for the Astros to win the World Series? - If he's in the lineup? - Yeah, if he's available in the lineup, even if he's only D-H-ing. - 30, 33%. - That's really high. I would have it at about 20. So let's assume that Jordan's unavailable. How much does that drop it off for you? - To about 15%. - Okay, it cuts it to me like five. It cuts it to me to, like that cut it by a quarter. That cut it by three quarters actually. So that's the significance of what Jordan Alvarez means to the team. I hate this too, by the way. I hate that we have to sit here and sweat injuries all year long. We've had to do this all year long. We sweated injuries at the start of the season. When's Luis Garcia? When's Lance McCulloch is gonna come back? We sweated the injury to, remember from about as was sent home with an elbow deal? Never had an MRI on it. Okay, we sweated that for a little bit 'cause elbows scare you when you talk about pitchers. We sweated the Christian Javier injury. Luis Garcia, Lance McCulloch started throwing. Luis Garcia pitched and rehab games. We sweated that, he was shut down. Justin Verlander was out several months. I don't know if it was actually several months, but a long time with a little neck thing that turned into a shoulder thing, we had to sweat that out. We had a sweat out Kyle Tucker. I am tired of having to sweat out injuries when it comes to the Houston Astros. - As well you should be. And again, it goes back to the fact that because every injury has, what you think is just a little small little bump in the road turns into Mount Tillam and Gerald by the time the Astros tell you the full truth far after the point of discussing it for the first time. No matter what we were talking about and the examples you gave, never once did we say, did we hear, oh, it's gonna be a short-term injury and then it become a short-term injury. Almost every time significant guys go down, it's, well, it's discomfort. Well, we're nursing it back. Oh, no, it's gonna be three months later and Kyle Tucker's playing again. I mean, and the other guys you talked about, it was significant portions of time in the season. So you shouldn't feel good about that. You shouldn't trust them. - 3, 2, 0, 9, if Alex Singleton can play a football game with a torn ACL, then Jordon can play. - I think Alex Singleton's not as soft as Jordon Alvarez. And I'm not saying that Jordon Alvarez is soft in this particular case. There have been some tendencies in Jordon's career where he can be a little soft. Brevin Jordan played as good a man of that game too with a torn ACL. I never could locate where Brevin Jordan hurt his knee. Like, so that kind of shows you the toughness there. - The mic'd up had him playing the last play of the game, but they didn't ever identify if he said anything where he actually got hurt. - Unless he tore his ACL walking to the team charter, which I don't think is the case. D'Amico Ryan's might think that's true though, 'cause injuries can happen wherever, he says. D'Amico Ryan says that injuries can happen at any point. So maybe because of the Brevin Jordan walking to the tarmac, maybe that's why he says that injuries can happen anyway. - It's way too early to show for you to trigger me, Jeremy. - Well, I was trying to save my average for that second. - I didn't say it. I didn't say that quote. We'll get to that later. 4, 4, 8, 8. - Dole Bryant. - 4, 4, 8, 8, because the Astros don't have anything to play for, how much rest do you give the veterans that last three games? They have to keep their timing. Like they have to stay in form. I don't think that you can sit them all three games. I think that you're starting your regulars, really two of the three games. But I think they're spring training. I think you give them two, three at bats and you pull them out of the game as quick as you can. You can't do that for everybody either. So you have to be very kind of calculated with how you're gonna do that, 'cause you're not carrying 40 men on the roster. You're carrying 28. But I do wanna see the regulars get some at bats. Now don't be taking extra bases. Gary Pettis yesterday, waving John Singleton around. And look, John Singleton's not the most important Houston Astros, but I don't need Gary Pettis to be waving Jose Altuve to have a play at the plate in game 161. I don't need that. - Do you see Chandler Rome on that, just squealing on him too? - Did he really? - Saying Singleton staying out later than just about any or staying up at, later than any Astro and really enjoying himself, stretching it from second base. It's like, come on man, let the guys have some fun. - What do you mean, why don't I get it? - Like, that he was, it was good to see he had the energy because there was, basically he was the guy celebrating the most last night and partying it up. He's like, come on man, let the guys have some fun. - Yeah, I agree with that. Like you don't rat the guy out like the clubhouse. - Yeah, I mean, if someone walked into him in a bar and could say, hey, I saw John Singleton later that night and so and so, great, that's your prerogative to say that. But you don't need the beat, right? That's not the significant news you needed in that, but you're right. - Yeah, that's kinda bad. - I would see, you know, Peña's healthy, but he really could use the time off. And Altuve and Bragman for sure, to where I would play them tomorrow night and I would play them, like you said, a couple of at bats. I would give them Saturday off, 'cause they're coming off a day off today, play 'em tomorrow, give 'em a day off Saturday, let 'em get some at bats again on Sunday, and that's it. - Yeah, yeah, I would, although if you give 'em the day off Sunday, that's two days off. - No, no, I said play 'em tomorrow. I play 'em tomorrow off on Saturday, play 'em on Sunday, and then the day off again and play Tuesday. - So you can't do that, but yeah, you'd have to stagger, 'cause you can't do it with every player. - No, right. - You can't do it with every, so you have to be, okay, two guys get a day off tomorrow, two guys get a day off Saturday, two guys get a day off on Sunday. I wish you had the 40-man roster for times like this. I'm really curious who starts on Sunday. I think they might call up this gusto guy. Like, he got scratched from the start yesterday for the spacers, which by the way, spacers won anyways, congratulations to them. You could've heard that on 92.5, but they scratched him. I wonder, and they haven't announced a starter for Sunday. I wonder if they're like, hey, gusto, here's your big league debut. Go throw 90 pitches and give us five to six innings. - Yeah, because didn't they say, is JV supposed to pitch Saturday? - They flip-flop Longco and JV. Longco's going tomorrow and JV's going Saturday. - Saturday, yeah. - And I don't even think they'll go Blanco that deep into the game. I think they'll go Blanco three, four innings, 70, 75 pitches. - At max. - I think Eric Getty might pitch tomorrow, too. - Maybe, maybe, but I mean Sunday to me is a game that you can start whoever the hell you want that's not anybody significant, 'cause I don't need to see anybody of significance or that you're gonna need in the playoffs pitch on Sunday. - No, I think that they might call it this gusto guy. I got scratched yesterday. Unless he's hurt, we don't know about it, which would be kind of appropriate for you. - When is the space Cowboys? - I think it's championship Saturday or Sunday in Vegas, I think it's Saturday in Vegas. - Saturday in Vegas. - Saturday in Vegas. - Saturday in Vegas. - Yeah, Saturday in Vegas. They're gonna be getting in some stuff. They win that thing. - Ooh, boy. - 7560 with his recent injury to the Astros, rethink Alvarez and defensive use. I don't, they should. I've been banging on this drum for four years. I don't think that Jordon will play the outfield if he's playing in the postseason at all. I think he'll be de-aging every single game in the postseason should he be available. Now going forward, yeah. I mean, Jordon rule number one, Jordon Alvarez, because he is such a good bat, should never play the field. - No, and stretch at your base. - We had some fun with it because we had a bat this year, but at the same time, I'm totally with you. Look, if you're, if you've got a deep outfield, if you've got the kind of outfield you were supposed to have and maybe you could have added an extra bat, but if you've got the right guys and personnel-wise, he should be your designated hitter. He becomes your David Ortiz. You don't have him do anything but hit because as we talked about yesterday, his significance, his importance and his ability to change games almost all by himself should be the only focus of you. Get him in the lineup and let him hit, and that's it. - Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. 713-780-3776, a fluid in the knee, inflammation in the knee, more imaging. What is your concern level for Jordon? How do you deploy him if you do get Jordon back and that decision will fall upon Joe Aspata, the Houston Astro Manager. You think Joe Aspata should be getting votes for AL Manager of the year? I think so. Skill or B, 713-780-3776. We're on Twitch, twitch.tv/espn97-5. We're on YouTube at ESPN Houston, Twitter, espn-975. Blankers at Pac-Man Joel, Brian at SAG by BMAC. I'm at Jeremy Branham. It is the bees on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 92-5. - Guys, we know that there's football tonight and that starts the weekend and there's football the rest of the weekend all the way through Monday night. 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Give him some votes for AL Manager of the Year. He wouldn't have my top vote. That would go to Stephen vote. - No doubt. - But Joe Espada to me should be, I don't know, I'm even sure how the writers do it. I think you pick your top three or your top five and then they go reverse order, blah, blah, blah, blah. Joe Espada, I think he's top two, really? I would have him behind vote as the runner up, maybe third. But what they went through, 10 games back. You're like 12 games under 500. We talked about all the injuries and the adversity that this team has went through. Yes, you have the built in advantage that you have a talented roster. That's going to force some people not to vote for Espada. Yes, you have the built in bias against the Houston Astros, which does exist from the media. And I also think there's a little bit working against Espada with the man that he's replacing. The fact that Dusty Baker was beloved and a good manager, great manager, arguably the best manager in Houston Astro history, but replacing him and then dropping the win total. I think people are like, what did Espada do? But in my mind, he should be getting votes for AL manager of the year. Yeah, I don't know when the voting actually takes place either, as if that was, I guess that had some significance because if you look at a guy like AJ Hinch, if he gets the Tigers in, then he gets even more. It's a regular season vote. So it happens in the end of the regular season. Okay, so, and again, as we're still trying to decide, figure out who the wild card is, but AJ's had a hell of a run. Critrero with the Royals has done a hell of a job, but I'm with you, I think votes the leading candidate. But I believe that Joe Espada should get some flowers. I don't expect him to win it, but you need to recognize what this guy's done. And I don't care what kind of roster you had coming into the season, but it matters when you think about what kind of a hole they had to dig out from. They were 12 under, they were 10 out in the division. They looked like they, you know, people were throwing dirt on them every single day, and this wasn't supposed to be something that could be done, should be done, or had been done. And they did all those things. And as a rookie manager, with a veteran-lated and very talented clubhouse, a lot of times that's when it crumbles faster and things fall apart at a higher level. What they've been able to do, he should, just the way Dana Brown should get flowers, there's no doubt that these two guys that were in the crosshairs more than just about anybody other than maybe Jim Crane in that mix. And those guys, I would say that there's no doubt Joe Espada deserves votes. Well, they were calling for his job. The people were calling for his job. And the familiar face despite being a rookie manager, something that Dana Brown says was beneficial to the Astros. Dana Brown, thank God we had a familiar face in the clubhouse when we were struggling. Maybe a new or fresh manager might have gotten frustrated with these guys, but Joe being a new manager, he had some familiarity with the group. He kept things together, he stayed positive, even when it was tough for me to stay positive. Marisa Dubon, from the athletic. Joe kept his cool when nobody gave a bad word about us. Joe kept it even Steven. He always, I love how Marisa Dubon's dropping an even Steven. Anyways, he always kept it real for us. And I think that's what helped a lot. We were seven and 19, he kept it the same as tonight. Another one, this one from Josh Miller, also courtesy of the athletic. Great, unbelievable, unwavering Miller set of his boss, dealt with a lot of punches early, we all did. It was tough, it was tough to be a part of, but he kept a stiff upper lip, I guess he can take a punch. And kept the vibe positive and these guys turned it around and kept going, it was an awesome job. Troy Snicker from the athletic, he never panicked, never gave up on us. We never felt like we were out of this thing. And that's how he came to the field every day. That's the vibe that came off to the players. It helped us stay stable, stay calm. Worked toward what we needed to do to get back on track, and he was a big part of it. Alex Braggman to the athletic, he stayed even killed, not even Steven, even killed. Even throughout the tough time, just continued to be a consistent voice. Jeremy Peña to the Houston Chronicle, we had a rough start to the season, and Joe was the leader of the clubhouse. He was the leader of the team. He got the group together, we kept chipping away, and I'd say Joe was the biggest piece of this whole puzzle. Joe Espada should get votes for AL Manager of the Year. I'm not saying he should win it, but he should be on the short list. And when we talk about Joe Espada and how he handled the rookie year of his managerial debut with the Houston Astros, I think we have to give him a huge, you know, passing grade. I think it's pass/fail. Now, what you do in the postseason is how you're forever going to get judged. Look how a lot of people view AJ Hinch. So you could have been great in the regular season, and yes, have votes for AL Manager of the Year. But how people view Joe Espada will be because of what he does in the postseason. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about this in the past, with other teams and other sports, and throughout professional sports. People don't remember the kind of regular season the Golden State Warriors had when they didn't, when they set the record for the most wins in the regular season history of the league. I do because they didn't win the championship. Most people, that's the thing that sticks with them. And making a playoff run is important. And we know that in this city with this run in this golden era of Astros baseball. And so you hope that it continues. But the rocky start that this team got off to, the rocky start that he was dealing with because it was his first year at the helm. And because there were things that people were pointing to and trying to point at and trying to blame him for, he needs to get credit for the fact that as well as this team came together and righted the ship, if he's the captain and his own players are giving him, and his coaching staff are giving him the credit, that says something in itself. Because a lot of guys are going to probably jump on board or start side-eyeing a lot of people and a lot of things when things go wrong. The fact that when things were at their worst and at rock bottom, he found a way to get them back to their best. He deserves all the credit in the world for that. Yeah, I think he's been really, really good. Jury's still out. I'm like, well, we think of them because again, what you do in the postseason is magnified more than what you do in the regular season. But kind of crazy that people are calling for his head, and then you have all these players. He was great. He was fit. We love him. He was really, really good, even killed, never wavered. It really spits in the face of that one report when the Astros were struggling that his communication was poor. Her name player. Yeah. Yeah. I don't remember. I think it was player unnamed source. I forget. But yeah, like there was that article, it might have been Bob Nightingale. And they're like, yeah, a spotter has poor communication. And it's like, yeah, I don't think though. I don't think that was correct. Yeah, no, that was definitely one that I remember at the time. We were like, whoa, who could that be? And trying to think of what player would be unhappy enough to start pointing the finger at Joe. Because Dana's right. I mean, the fact that if you take a rookie manager that came straight out of the blue outside of the organization, I don't think you get anywhere close to the same kind of results in terms of the respect of the clubhouse and the stick together of the entire team when things go bad. Joe having paid his dues and develop relationships with this team, there's no doubt that helped. But the fact that he was still learning things as the guy in charge instead of second in command. And so it was a learning experience for him. And then he had to learn on the fly how to handle adversity at a very high level. And he was able to handle all of that and he should get credit for that. Yeah, he got thrown into the wolves with adversity. No doubt about that. You have this dynasty and all of a sudden you're 12 games under 500 in 10 games back right out of the gate. Yeah, he had he was thrown into the wolves for sure. 0 9 7 9 Joe Cool. Absolutely. Dana Brown, executive of the year. I think Dana Brown had a really good year as a general manager and didn't love his off-season. You know, I like the hater signing, although it was very expensive. And I'm not a huge believer in spending tons of money on relief pitching. I feel like because he didn't have a great off-season, he was kind of playing catch up during the season. But if you look at his moves during the season, I mean, yeah, tip my cap. Hated the Yousek Akuchi trade. And I was eating crow immediately on that because Yousek Akuchi has been phenomenal. You look at some of the shrewd under the radar pickups during the season as well. Ben Gamble comes and immediately is one of your better offensive, one of your best nine offensive players. He gets hurt. And then what do you have waiting in the in the reserves? Jason Hayward. So like I, yeah, Dana Brown does deserve a lot of credit. Executive of the year, probably not. Didn't have a great off-season in my opinion. But in season moves, yes, phenomenal. Yeah, I'm with you. I didn't like what they gave up for the Kakuchi trade. And I wasn't sure Kakuchi was the right guy. He stuck by his gun, said that was the guy that they had targeted as much as we questioned whether we believed that or not. Kakuchi was unbelievable. Can you start at the start of the season? When you start talking about where he had penciled in in his mind, a chance for Blanco to be a starter. You know, looking at Eric Eddy as a guy that he really liked, that he thought had a role on this team. And look at the role those two guys played over the course of 162. And then the guys you mentioned, a gamble off the scrap heap and a Hayward were huge, even finding a Taylor Scott and getting the first half of the season you got from Taylor Scott when he was high leverage and more. I mean, those are, those are kind of somewhat under the radar or forgotten about because of the fact that the team now won the division. Without those guys, you're not even close. Seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESP and HRMP listener line. What do you think of the job that Joe has done in the regular season? Another thing that I've noticed too, we're starting to see some disrespect. We're seeing some fromber Valdez disrespect. And what I think is happening here is that frombers just kind of lulling people to sleep with how consistent that he's been these last few years. And the disrespect we're getting, for giving getting from two fromber, it's real and it's not spectacular. It is the bees on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. Something that is spectacular is Oktoberfest. And Oktoberfest will be here before you know it. Make plans right now for Saturday, October 5th and Sunday, October 6th for Oktoberfest on the KEMA Boardwalk. You get German beer, German food, give me all of it. Live music, cornhole tournaments, Stein holding competitions, costume contest and much, much more. It's going to be a great time, free for you to attend, walk around. So head out there, Oktober 5th and Oktober 6th. You can get your beer tickets, beer steins, food tickets, all online right now. At kEMAboardwalk.com or you can purchase them at the event, no big deal. Some of the beer that you will have, Blue Moon, Belgian White, new Belgian atomic pumpkin, Yingling, Oktoberfest and much, much more. How about this food, Schnitzel on a stick. I love Schnitzel, German beer brought worse. We all love that. Sausage on a stick, soft pretzel with beer cheese, the food is unbelievable. souvenir steins are available for purchase right now at kEMAboardwalk.com while supplies last. Saturday, Oktober 5th, we get the live music starting at 1 o'clock all the way until 10, Stein holding competition, cornhole tournament that night. And then Sunday, we'll do it all over again. Live music, noon till 9, Stein holding at 5, cornhole at 5.30. You can see the full schedule of events and concert lineup at kEMAboardwalk.com. That's kEMAboardwalk.com. We're listening to ESPN, 97.5. Brace yourself, 12th man. Everybody's not gonna feel you, gotta win your best. This is a new era of Texas A&M football. Our excitement is at an all-time high and people are excited about the direction of this program. Showing us Saturday, the Aggies travel to AT&T Stadium to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. Our coverage begins at 1.30 on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Texas A&M vs Arkansas, Saturday at 1.30 on ESPN, 97.5 and 92.5. You listening to The Killer B's with Joel Blanket, Jeremy Branham. On ESPN, 97.5 and 92.5. Broadcasting live from the Veritex Community Bank Studios. 8.022, German food is easily some of the least favorable, least flavorful food out there. German food sucks, Branham, your Caucasian side is showing in that read. And I'm Mexican. Schnitzel's fantastic. And the last name Branham is German, actually. So you're actually onto something there. You get good Schnitzel, how could you be disappointed in his hat? Schnitzel's great. Schnitzel's not. The pretzels with the beer cheese. Grow good. Fantastic. Brought? Brought's fantastic. I'll tell me. I know, we're speaking Joel's language now. Schnitzel is my favorite. Schnitzel's great. Schnitzel's my favorite. I mean, I grew up. Brought worse are the best. I love Brought worse. You're right. The pretzels are all world, whether you got cheese dip or not. Just the pretzel made the right way. Those are fantastic. In fact, get Chris Jericho ready, Brian, if you can. If it's available, 8.022, you just made the list. You just made the list. You just made the list. That's a terrible take. It is Thursday, though, so appreciate you doing that. Space City Kev, poor sum out, by the way. The Mariners have been eliminated. The Mariners eliminated on their day off. Space City Kev says, "How are you going to get eliminated on your day off? How are you going to get fired on your day off?" Yeah, Tigers won. Royals won. They're magic numbers too. Really want that Sunday game to be competitive, though. They need the twins to win. And then hopefully they lose, I guess, once in that span. Because that would be nice if they have to play Sunday. For real, play real baseball Sunday. 593 to the Astros team. I have a better record right now. Dusty Baker was still around. If he hadn't had a heart attack during the season, I must have missed that news. I don't think that we ever heard anything close to that. Dusty didn't even miss games, right? That's a gamer right there. If he had a heart attack and didn't miss a game, that's pretty stout. That's pretty tough. That's not a soft boy. No wonder he didn't like you were on the list. He's a dog. He had a heart attack kept managing. Never missed a game. Maybe it's all that banana pudding. He can't bring him to the clubhouse. Ox tells, too. He would bring that in. Do you seriously, though? Do you think that they would be any better off or with Dusty? I think they'd be about the same. I think we kind of overrate the importance of... Well, I think managerial importance. I think sometimes we'll misconstrue. I think, like, first pitch to last out. I think it's pretty simple, quite honestly. Like, people are, "Oh, you've never played the game. You couldn't--" Well, I did play the game. I hit 400 in high school and won a barely softball championship. But I saw a lot of baseball. But it's really what you do, I think, after the last out and before the first pitch. I think it's talking to the guys, keeping the camaraderie high, the chemistry high, keeping the vibes good. I think Dusty Baker excelled in that. I think game management wasn't his strong suit. But I think we overrate that, underrate the other stuff where he was phenomenal. Yeah, the main thing, too, is just the ability to communicate with your players on tough news as well as good times. And I think that, you know, the fact that those guys felt comfortable, knowing that whether they walked into his office or he had a conversation with them elsewhere, they respected him. They knew that he's a baseball lifer. And they knew that he knew his stuff to where that he could get the message across. That was huge. And that's where maybe, you know, that could have helped a little with continuity early on, that Joe was still developing. But because Joe had been there before, he knew these guys. It was just now he's in command. For not so what do you think? Do you think they would have a better or what? I think it'd be close to being the same. I think that Dusty may have had a few more wins here there early on because Joe was still getting his feet wet. But I don't think it would have been a significant difference. Yeah, I don't, I don't think so either. I think it'd have been the same. 4492, only team in history, 7 and 19 to make the playoffs. I thought the Braves like in the 20s did that, whatever, modern history. John 14th, cut a Bray U. I was thinking about the at the other day. Like it does not seem like Jose Abreu was on this baseball team this season. He was on the baseball team this season. Doesn't it feel like he wouldn't? Oh, it does. Well, yeah, it does. But what I was thinking about was how does he feel right now? Because, you know, so much. Rich. Well, besides being rich, like that's his squad. He was supposed to be there with them. And if he could have hit the baseball at all, they probably would have still been force feeding him to us for at least an extended a longer period of time. And now without him, look what they were able to do. That can't feel great no matter how much money you got in the bank. I disagree. If you paid me 19 and a half million dollars to leave this station, I would never pay attention to you guys again. You can disagree. You would never care. Like I would forget all of you in a heartbeat. That's fine. I'm just saying with a ball player with pride, you know that at the end of the day, yeah, he knows how much money he got out of this deal. But, you know, damn well, he did all the things he did because he wanted to contribute. And then he's got to feel certain kind of way about the fact that without him, they turned it around and more. It's probably case by case spaces. Like I don't know him personally enough to know how he would feel. I wouldn't care. 19 and a half million dollars. I'm going to go enjoy my life. Accepted a demotion trying to contribute and make it to where he could be someone that they, you know, paid good money for. Yeah, he was being a professional. Okay. He was being a pro. He was trying to make his way back. Key from LA. I played a lot of it will be the show. Get a life, man. I can be your batting coach, Branham, 0979. Joe just getting started. He can't compare to Dusty. Joe great for a rookie. I don't think Dusty Baker wins way more games than Joe Espada, though. Like, I really don't. Like, if he does, it's one or two games. I would say I guess if you're going to pick the spot where Dusty could have been better is maybe avoiding the disastrous start. Like, I don't know if they start 10 and 20, remain 10 games under 500 for as long as they did. But over the long run for the full season, I think it's fairly close and they're probably still in the wildcard. Maybe they win three, four more games with Dusty, but that still doesn't catch Cleveland or New York. Well, let me ask you this. After what we went through year one with Yiner, would he be okay playing Yiner at first base? I think so. The owner played first base last year. A little bit. A little bit. But, you know, would he be okay, like truly making him more, you know, platooning more and playing a lot of first base? I think so. Yeah, I don't think he would have had any issue with it. We forget that the last time that the Astros had a sub 500 record was with Dusty Baker. Just saying. That was the COVID year. Just saying. They were under 500. That was the last time the Astros were under 531 with Dusty Baker. I see a lot of Fromber Valdez disrespect. Keith Law, he gave his top five A.L. Sayung. And he did not have Fromber Valdez listed. And it's very disrespectful. And I think what's happening here is Fromber Valdez's consistency is kind of boring these media types. Like, oh, oh, I'm another Fromber Valdez year where he's top five in ERA, where he logs 175 innings, where he's right there in victories at the top of the American League. He's in every single leaderboard just about. Oh, well, you know, it's kind of like with Jordan a little bit, not on that scale. But, oh, we're bored, you know, listing and voting for Michael Jordan is the MVP. So we're going to vote all these other random jabronis. It's the same thing with Fromber Valdez. Like, oh, okay, I'm bored having Fromber in my top five. Let me vote some of these youngsters. But if Fromber Valdez doesn't finish top five A.L. Sayung voting, it's very disrespectful. Like Keith Law has. He doesn't have a vote, but he added in the athletic. Fromber Valdez is third in ERA, top fifth in wins, sixth in war, ninth in whip. And he's top five and a bunch of nerd stats. Third in fifth, fifth in adjusted ERA, fourth in adjusted pitching runs, fourth in adjusted pitching wins, fourth in situational wins saved, and fifth in rew. Don't ask me what that is. I have no idea. But Fromber Valdez is on almost every single important leaderboard in the top five. If he doesn't get voted top five A.L. Sayung, it's criminal. You're right. Because that's that's that's across the all of baseball, right? That would that's just for the A.L. And you only vote for A.L. pitchers when you're voting for the A.L. Sayung. Right. I was just curious because I also saw some other graphics about whereas ER ranked in terms of all of baseball and it's it's truly fantastic. And when you think about the hiccups that he had, you know, kind of in that May, June state era, you know, I mean, little portion of the season, the way he turned it back around dialed it back in and it's just been so steady. It's completely unfair that you don't have him top five in the American League. I it's obvious Scoobles going to win it. And he is, you know, the state that the guy that stands out to everybody and because he's on a team like the Tigers, they got a lot of extra attention. And he's going to be the winner. But if you can't have him somewhere in the mix, no matter who you're else, you're looking at and who you think had a really good year pitching wise, then I don't think you've watched enough baseball. I don't keep luck, you know, pat himself on the back and there's always, you know, a basketball analyst and he can break down talent. We've gotten into it with him on Hunter Brown amongst things. There's no way you can't look at the season that Fromber put together yet again. I think he's not top five five seven nine eight. I hope Fromber takes it personally and crushes the postseason. Yeah, that'd be great. six zero nine one. When will the playoffs be set? I imagine they'll set the schedule Sunday. Sometimes Sunday as soon as everything solidified. Yeah, I mean, if there's anything still waiting in the wings on Sunday, but I would, I would think that once if they get it pretty, if it's all done and said for who's playing who by Saturday, I would think they would, they would come out either Saturday night or Sunday morning. They play all four of these wild card games on the same day. Two in the NL, two in the AL. So you're gonna have a bunch of staggered starts. I wonder, I'm very curious what the Astros time slot is for these, these three games. But who's the who sets the matchup from like a national perspective? I don't know the matchups. Do you know? Well, I mean, just by what it is today, we know Astros would be tigers. It would be royals and Orioles. I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. And then the Padres, I don't, I, I don't really keep up with the nationally. Um, the Brewers right now are the divisional champ that has to play in the wild card series in the NL Dodgers and the Phillies are getting buys right now. Padres could still catch the Dodgers. They're three back, but that seems pretty, pretty lofty. So you're looking at Milwaukee. If the season ended today, you're looking at Milwaukee, Arizona, San Diego, New York, but it'd be at San Diego. So they probably make that the late game. Yeah, that's definitely going to get some national TV though. I mean, though the prime time slot, they're going to get an item. I don't know, man. Like if you put that, if you put that at eight Eastern, they're playing at five o'clock in San Diego. I think they'll make that the late. That's New York though. They want the New York market in prime time. Yeah, I'll be interesting. I'm curious what they do. Now the Braves are only a game back. They still have a chance in the Braves and the Mets have to do that weird double header on Monday. If it matters, that stinks for them. It really sucks because I think it's just, I think it's, I want to say that it's the Braves that play, I think in Milwaukee. And then they got to fly back. And then if they fly back from Monday's game at home and they play the two games and if they, they end up being, then they got to fly to wherever they play the next day. Yeah, it's, uh, I thought the Braves played somebody in the American league. I wanted to say it had, uh, implications. I thought the Brewers had implications between one of them. Maybe the Mets have to play in Milwaukee, but one of the two. The Braves are playing the Royals. They're home for the Royals. Okay. So then it's the Mets. They would have to go. I think they have to go to Milwaukee fly back to Atlanta for the double header. And if they win to get enough into the playoffs, they have to fly wherever they're playing for the Tuesday. Oh, well, that's their problem, not mine. 713 7803776. Let's get to Lee Sterling paramount sports. He's been crushing it, crushing it. You're going to want to play all the games that Lee's playing this weekend. We'll get those games next. It's the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5. You're listening to ESPN 97 5. We're locked in with the killer bees on ESPN 97 5 and 92 5 live from the paratex community bank studios. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Brennan. Lee Sterling's killing it. At least Sterling last week or in one year today, crushing it. He's making you rich. If you listen to Lee Sterling of paramount sports and Lee, I'd ask you how you're doing, but I know how you're doing. I just want to jump into the games of the big one. The big one in Tuscaloosa, Alabama first time as a home dog since George W. Bush was in office. George has given two to the tide. How's this one going to go? This is why we watch the game. There's so much talent on this field here. And Carson Beck for Georgia, the quarterback, probably a top five pick. Alabama quarterback, Jalen Millrow, one of the best dual threat quarterbacks we've seen in a long time. Georgia plays like five or six running backs. Bama, they share the carries with Jim Miller and Justice Hayne. So I think pretty even there, this game might come down to one play by let's say a wide receiver. And if that's the case, my money would be on Alabama true freshman Ryan Williams who reclassified. He really should be in high school. This kid, something special, 10 catches on the year so far, four for touchdowns. And I think you were just thought that they were going to have to go to Guy Emergent. It would be Dominic Lovett. He does have nine catches. And they thought he would take over for Lad McConkie, but has yet to see the end zone. So also on top of that, 17 of the 27 times two top five teams have matched up. The home team has prevailed here. I'm going to say the wrong team's favorite. I like Alabama, 27 24. Wow. That's a big one. Way to start out hot with a big one. Way to go Lee. And now we're looking at the team that, look, we know Willie Fritz is a hell of a football coach and good things are ahead for the Cougs. Bit of a struggle so far this year. Iowa State, the cyclones, they're giving 13 points. How do you see that one going? Yeah, Iowa State's defense has allowed only 3.96, not yards per rush, yards per snap. That equates to 260 yards per game. The current national average for total offense is 402 yards per game. Houston's offense averaging only 294 and 4.8 per per play here. Houston's offense is going to face that 12th rated pass defense if they fall behind. And if that's the case, it's probably not going to work out. So I just think Donovan Smith just too up and down here. This Iowa State game very under the radar. They were the better team. They should have won by a lot more than they did at Iowa. And Iowa's now coming on cyclones 30 to 13. Well, because I'm a professional, Lee, I'll just move right along and right past that Lee Sterling Paramount Sports joining us on the HRNP guest line. Let's switch it to the NFL game that outside of Houston that I'm the most excited about. Baltimore, Buffalo, Buffalo undefeated, Baltimore, one and two, but Baltimore, Lee favored in this game by two. Yeah, and Josh Allen's been incredible. I mean, if they hadn't had an MVP voting right after three games, I think he would run away with it. I think people are shocked that, you know, without Stefan Diggs, how good they look, first three and those start and four years for this team. But I think it could come to an end. This is a non-division game here. They're traveling off a Monday night here, and I think their problem is going to be linebacker. They'll be without Matt Milano for the season, Terrell Bernard. These are the best two linebackers, and I think they can be exploited in the run game, their backups, and also in past coverage. So the March action and Derek Henry, they look like they're in mid-season form if you watch the first three quarters of the game against Dallas. Yeah, the final was 28-25, but they were playing a lot of deep zone, just playing pre-event just to make sure they won the game. I like Baltimore here. It should be a fun game to watch, though, 31-27. Lee, we got the surprise in the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not a whole lot of people put a whole lot of stock in Justin Fields, and most people didn't think he was going to start, but the Steelers have been a massive surprise in the league. They're taking out a bit of a disappointment in the Annapolis Colts. Only one point going in this game. How do you see it going down? The Steelers just don't do anything fancy, but it's clear they're establishing an identity here, Justin Fields. He hasn't fully let loose yet, either with his armors like, but he's not making mistakes. He's completing over 73% of his passes. Only one interception, no fumbles on the year. They're sustaining long drives, no defensive face, more plays or spent more time on the field than the Colts here. Their points allowed in yards for play are slightly better, but still fit at the bottom third of the league. It's not all the defense here, however, as Anthony Richardson has twice as many interceptions as touchdowns. He's fumbled the ball twice, lucky to get both of them back. Add in 49.3 completion percentage. It's going to be really hard to score on this Pittsburgh day. The Steelers will also remember the game last year. They jumped out to that 13, nothing lead. And the Colts scored the final 30 points here. Pipped a little payback, 27, 17, Lee Sterling's been rolling four in one last week. You can find us stuff. Paramount Sports.com. Joining us now on the HR and P guess line, Houston Texans home for Jacksonville, trying to respond after losing badly to Minnesota on the road this past weekend. It looks again like Cam Acres going to be the featured back. It looks like there will be no Tengdell. We don't get me started on that. There's seven point favorite at home against division rival Jacksonville has been putrid so far this year as this one's shaken out. Yeah. And then whoever thought we'd see Trevor Lawrence lose nine games in a row dating back to last year last game that they won. I mean, this is, I mean, it's crazy. Goes back to last November and better. That's right. He was the quarterback in that game. So I hate things are not all right, obviously with Houston, but this Jacksonville team has got some big problems here. Two and nine and Trevor Lawrence's last 11 starts. They're also without one of their best linebackers. So injuries are starting to mount up on both teams here, but I think Houston eventually going to get it right. Sometimes just in a slump here and this is the perfect team to get out of the slump here. I think some things are also going on behind the scenes between the coaching staff and Lawrence. You can just read his body language. There's definitely some unhappiness there. I like Houston. I think they hit on some big plays, jump out to a lead and then keep pulling it on. Give me the detections here, 29 to 17. Well, Lee, you've been killing it. Jeremy mentioned it. You just been hammering everybody and getting wins. You got wins on the season. You had a hot week last week at four and one. Tell everybody how they can capitalize and cash in on your winning and give them a free play along the way as well. Yeah, we're going to, we're going to give them a free play tonight. Don't only give a Thursday night game for free, but Dallas and the Giants, huge game for both teams. How about this? The first five callers. They call 800-400-9741. Give them Dallas and the Giants on me. Call that number right now to get it for free. 800-400-9741. Last week we had the Baker's dozen. Had a winner on that and we're going to have it. We don't call it October coming up. We call it a lot. You can get five weeks of games starting tonight going all the way through Thursday, October 31st, only $5.47. You use coupon code SAVE200, just $347, and you're going to get generally nine to 12, nine to 13 games a week. And our first 40 to 50 unit play of the year goes this Saturday and we're 66 and 24 on these 40 to 50 unit major wager releases. So you want to hop on board. Now is the time. Just one place. ParamountSports.com. Thank you, Lee. Stay hot. I will. Hey, guys. Please. Sterling. I will. ParamountSports.com. Look at that confidence, man. I will. I'm going to do it. I'm going to stay hot. Lactobers around the corner, Lee Sterling, handing out winners. You got to love it. Lee Sterling, ParamountSports.com. I sure don't love D'Amico Ryan's answer when asked if he regrets having the starters in the game when they were down by 27 with minutes left to play. Also, the injury report is out today. Think Dell did not practice. You know, who else does not practice in today for the Houston Texans? Who would that be? Nico Collins was limited fully. Mrs. Foley's baby boy fought a cosy limited Kenyan green on the, on the injury report, but it was full participant. Joe Mixon did not practice. Damien Pierce did not practice. Jimmy Ward did not practice, but of course, the ones that I have in my crosshairs. Tank? Dell. What was D'Amico's response when asked about leaving the starters in late in the game? 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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