The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
09/30 Hour 2 - The Good Bad & The Ugly
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Right here on ESPN 97.5, Killer Bees, the immediate aftermath of getting one of the wild card tomorrow, Wednesday, and then Thursday, if necessary. Good bad ugly blinkers, what you got? Well, again, because I wasn't expecting too much because of where they were sitting and what they were dealing with, the fact that, for me, the good starts with Kyle Tucker, because Kyle Tucker kept hitting the baseball, because Kyle Tucker was five for ten. Kyle Tucker showed that his timing is back, his swing is back, and there's a guy regardless of what the situation is with Jordon. You know he's an essential part of the top half of your lineup, and I was pleased that Tuck looks like he's going to be ready for the playoffs. Yeah, he was good. You kept it. Everybody kind of hit the ball pretty well. Like you had a pretty good offense a weekend, Cleveland wasn't throwing their dudes. So if they do meet up in the ALDS, it's going to be a much different series. Hopefully you get there. Hopefully you had that problem. We're now Blanco, to me, cemented what was a great regular season that no one saw coming, even Dana Brown, and it is, you know, and his plums wouldn't tell you that he expected this from Renele Blanco. Renele Blanco finishes regular season 13 and 6 with a 280 ERA, which was the second best ERA in the American League. Blanco was one of the best pitchers in the American League this year, which is amazing. Look, we were wondering if he was going to make the roster coming out of spring training. We were wondering if he was going to be in the bullpen. And then, if I told you that with all those questions in our heads, that by the midway point, he would have been the most valuable pitcher on your roster going into the all-star break. No one in their right mind would have believed it, but to finish the year, the way he finished the year, and then how valuable it was, he got a little extra rest, but it looks like he's fallen right back into form that he's going to be good for you, come play-off time no matter how you choose to use him. He has been one of the biggest unsung heroes on this squad, and the fact that he had the second best ERA in the American League, one thing you just want to go to step in is first year, be serviceable. Keep us in ball games, give us a chance to do everything that he did, especially with what was riding and going wrong in the first half of the season. You got to tip your cap to that guy. He's the second best ERA in the American League, best in hits per Nine innings, and he's your number four starter. He's not going to get a look. He's not going to start the wildcard round. It's crazy. The fact that you had two and three in ERA because Froemer was right behind him, and you could easily have said at the start of the year, Froemer's going to be that dude, and no one would have argued with you, but to say that Bronco was better earned run average-wise, and Blanco did all the things he did this year, not in your wildest dream. No, I mean, Froemer had a great year. He did. So, Renelle Blanco, just the most surprising year, no doubt. Spencer Araghetti is a psychopath relief pitcher. Spencer Araghetti is a psychopath. He went into the bullpen, and he turned into like wild thing, Rick Vaughn. He's getting ejected out of a meaningless game whenever he wrongfully thought he should have been getting some strikes. Like, he wasn't even right. I kind of like it, though. I love that from Spencer Araghetti. Araghetti has turned into an alter ego whenever he's a relief pitcher. He's nice. Spencer Araghetti, when he's a starter, whenever he's a reliever, something clicks, something switches, he turns into a psychopath, and I love it. That's the guy I won the postseason. I want psychopath relief pitcher Spencer Araghetti. Can you add on to that, the caveat, that he can be psychopath, wild thing, Ricky Vaughn, but find the strike zone enough to at least have control of it, because that scared me. Psychospence. When he's a reliever, it's psychospence. As long as he can at least find the zone, because I don't need him walking guys and setting up his own trouble, but I do know that he's got the stuff that he can be in the bullpen. He can be effective whether you want him as a piggyback guy or you're a multiple inning guy or a guy that just goes in and gives you three outs. He has the fastball and the other pitches that he can do that as long as he can find the strike zone. He was really good in the first two innings. Like he was dominant in the first two innings, and then that third innings when he lost all control and walked the bases loaded, I kind of had a feeling he was going to say so you could see at the umpire too. Before it was even over, he kept covering his glove and I'm like, I wonder if he takes this on his stroll off the mound. Boy did he. Psychospence. That's where Leaf Pitcher, Spincher, or Getty's alter ego. Any other goods? I got one bad. Do we have any other goods before we move to the bads? I mean, like you mentioned, the other guys in limited duty, but for Braggman to go three for four means he's in a good groove now, hopefully getting ready for the postseason. Al Tuve had two hits in the game that he played two for four and Desenzo, you know what? Evidently, they pulled the right strings because Whitcomb comes up big for the space Cowboys to win the AAA championship in Vegas and Desenzo in front of his friends and family comes up big, hits a bomb and nice to see him find his swing a little bit too. I wonder if he makes the, I wonder if he makes the roster. I mean, if they make the move that they made, I think it was more or less to see, you know, can you be a guy at least offensively that we can consider for the roster? What he did, I think lends itself to he's in the discussion. Yeah. I just don't know because I don't think Whitcomb is. I have them. I don't know. I can't be with them. I mean, if you're sitting with them down for the final series of the year, I don't think that you would be. And they say that wasn't because of his defense and all that. But look, they, we've seen enough that Whitcomb needs a little more polish. Yeah. I, I don't know, like they said, Chasmic Cormack's going to be available. So if Chasmic Cormack's available, is he your right handed bat off the bench? And do you feel like you need to keep another infielder because Dubon's going to be playing left field, whatever, left handers are on the mound. So to me, it's going to come down final roster spot. I think there's two spots for three guys. I think it's for the offense. I think it's Cesar Salazar, Zach DeZinzo, and Gray Kessinger, I think two of those three make it. Yeah. I think they'll keep it third catcher because I think they're going to play both catchers, especially against lefties. And I'm going back and forth on gray and, and, uh, Salazar's in just because I think because they're going to use both catchers so much in the lineup. I think it comes down to Kessinger's going to give you better defense, but he's not going to give you anything offensively. And if, if the fact that DeZinzo's offensive capabilities give you, and you don't think he's going to be as big of a liability defense, he'll be okay, then I think they would lean DeZinzo over Kessinger, but Kessinger has playoff experience. Yeah. It gives you some glove defensively. I'm going back and forth on those. I think that's the final decision that needs to be made on the offensive side. I don't think Verlander's going to make it either. What's that? Gray's that guy. Defensively, defensively. Yeah. He is the defense of that guy. I don't think Verlander will be on the, uh, the playoff roster. I mean, pitch Saturday through 95 pitches. That's true. He wouldn't be available until game three. Yeah. But I think to your point, what he showed me was enough to think that they're going to try and find him instead of like we were talking about, I thought that they were going to have an injury for him, so that would be an easy kind of fade into the sunset without any kind of the media attention of keeping him off the roster. You're right. The pitches by him and out for the wildcard round, if they advance the divisional series, I think they're going to put him in the pen. If, if the Astros advanced, I agree with you. I don't think he'll be on the wildcard roster though. That's a good point because he wouldn't be available until game three through 95 pitches on Saturday. I think that's our indicator there. And then the only other bad I had was that the Tigers got to, uh, they got to rest their pitchers, which I mean, all they really, I mean, okay, I got to choose these words carefully. The only starter they really have is Tariq Scooble, who's going to be the Cy Young, who's a dominant, who's a stud, AL Triple Crown winner, Astros have their hands full there. And in A.J. Hinch even said this earlier today, after Scooble. It's going to be all hands on deck. They will throw chaos at you, opener, go to the bullpen quick. It's going to be Scooble tomorrow for as long as he'll go. And then it's going to be the bullpen. The rest of the series. Can you imagine the Tigers didn't get cute at the trade deadline? Yeah, I know. If Flaherty was their number two with his hottest, they are offensively, that's a team that would scare everybody because you don't want the hot team at the wrong time and they're definitely the hottest team in baseball. But yeah, not having anybody behind Scooble, that's going to be really interesting to watch what they do. But it's been effective. They have like a 250 ERA since like July 1, since the deadline. So it's like, it's weird. If they were to collect Flaherty, it's like, okay, we have another starter, but it's been working for them. Yeah, we'll see if it works in the playoffs and the higher stress levels and, you know, the more high leverage situations for all these guys. But Astros just got to handle their business. I like Fromber in that game. I think that the Astros have gotten to Scooble before. So I think that that's going to be really interesting to see how it plays out because as we talked about, if the Astros get game one, I'm really curious if they don't shuffle Tukuchi into the game two starter. They didn't announce the game two starter. That's why they went Fromber and they haven't announced his after that. So you might, you might have nailed that. It depends. I mean, we'll see. We'll see further this week, but if they lose, it'll definitely be 100. No doubt. If they win, we'll see. 0303. The good thing this weekend was the space Cowboys championship. Yeah, congratulations to them. Our friends with the spacers winning the AAA championship. That was cool. You know, Mahal 13, six, I think it was. But the fact that, you know, they send down Shay Whitcomb and he got what three hits. He was the MVP of the game. Yeah. Yeah. So that was big for them. And you know, Dana Brown pulling the right strings there for them too. But what, what a great year. And when you think about how everybody always says how depleted the farm system is for the Astros and how less than that their farm system is, their AAA team won both halves. Yeah. And they won the, the, the overall championship. That's, that's a hell of a year. Yeah. I love correlating it to the prospect in the M.O.E. pipeline though, because the Astros have a lot of 4A players. They do. But at least from the standpoint of guys that, you know, show that they have ability when you think of the guys that came up, you're right from a, from a standpoint of when we saw Leon, he wasn't ready yet. And there were questions, but with Whitcomb, with Desenzo, with the fact that, um, um, Matthews contributed in that game as well, got a home run in that game and he's on the fast track to get up there. The guys that Dana's drafted and the guys that they have at least have shown they have ability and what they did at the triple A level says something. Now, can, does that ever translate to the major league level? That's a different discussion. Yeah. Most of the guys that they played in that game though, or like for a players because outside of Bryce Matthews and outside of, um, of Melton. Those are the only two. Okay. Like that. I mean, after that, you really didn't have anybody else in the lineup that's really considered a prospect, uh, Shay Whitcomb's really not considered a prospect. They think higher of Desenzo like, Hey, sir, Spastitas led off at shortstop. Not really a huge prospect. Leon's a four a guy. Whitcomb, I think is a four a guy, Trey cabbage, four a guy, Cooper Hummel, four a guy. Tommy Sacco who Quincy Hamilton, four a guy, Bryce Matthews. Yes. And then Omar Narva. He's certain RV's is a, is a longtime major league baseball veteran. That's not a big league or anymore. Now they do have some arms that you think will help you like Colton Gordon started that game. I think he's a big leaguer at some point. AJ blue ball is a big leaguer at some point. Forrest Whitley's a big leaguer at some point. I do feel a little bit bad for Ryan gusto, who was supposed to make his big league debut. I think people are flying to go watch his big league debut and then they got canceled. So like that stinks. He's somebody that's going to help you going forward. I read the story on him, by the way, like his old junior college coach posted the tweet about it. He never made his high school baseball team ever, never made his high school baseball team. And you got to believe at that point that your chances are slim and none to even get somewhere to where you could play like competitive baseball in college. The next city sitting where he's sitting, that is amazing preferred walk on never made his high school baseball team. And all of a sudden he's a guy that was on the cusp of making his big league debut. Hopefully for his sake, he makes his big league debut next year. Cause that would really stink. All right. 713 780 ESPN Ocho. I'm going all bad with the Astros season record stats. McTaggart posted Astros were 28 and 29 in day games. That's not good. 18 and 30 what 18 and 31 when they didn't hit a home run 24 and 15 when they didn't score first and O and 56 when trailing after eight innings. Thanks for the, thanks for the bright light there, Ocho hit a home run early, taken early lead. And don't worry about it. Ocho. Also a Brian McTaggart said there's a 50 50 chance that you were on the roster tomorrow. I'm going higher than that. You were 50 50 makes me a little nervous. He was running around the day outside. Hopefully the roof was closed and then he was taking BP. He'll be on the roster. It's just a matter of 50. Yeah. Well, I think it's higher to yeah, I mean, look, the big thing to me is if he's going to have to need a brace or not, I'd hate to have it because if he's wearing a brace, then I'm worried that it's, it's still not feeling great. But if, if my personal opinion is he'll be in the lineup, he'll be fine. Hey, I think he's going to DH in about second with a heavy brace on his knee. I hate the brace. But I, of course. Stop sliding for a second. Maybe that helps him from thinking about trying to stretch a single to a double. I hope this is proof for everybody to listen to me when it comes to your own Alvarez and make him a DH only that never slides and ever takes extra basis. Like, okay, you, you like him taking extra 90 feet. I like him hitting dingers in the post season. Which one do you like more? All right. 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6. What do you believe after this college football weekend 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6. It's the B's on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5 you're listening to ESPN 97 5 the winners, the losers and all the best college football moments this weekend. Welcome back to college football. Did you see it? Can you feel it? Do you believe now? You believe it? I'm awesome. You believe it? Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Do you believe that? With the killer V's. What do you believe now after the college football weekend lots of great college football played this week 7 1 3 7 8 0 3 7 7 6. What do you believe, Blakers? I believe Jalen Milrow's the Heisman Trophy winner in Alabama is way better than I thought they were. Because what I saw Jalen Milrow a year ago, athletic, big, strong kid had issues in the passing game. I didn't know with Saban leaving and Kaitlyn DeBor going in there. What he was going to be able to do. Now basically just don't screw it up because what a game that turned out to be. But the statement that Alabama made across the board with the talent that they have and the fact that Jalen Milrow did whatever he wanted. He was clearly the best player on the football field. That was an impressive show in by Alabama. The new Red Rocket, the pride and joy at Katie Texas. All the Milrow wins at Tomkins, not Katie. Um, yeah, he looks great. He looks really good. I'm surprised that Bama almost blew that game. I was like. They were dominating. They're up huge and all of a sudden Georgia takes the late league like Georgia took the late lead in that game. Um, I believe they're going to play three times Alabama and Georgia, the play the previous game they just played. They're going to play in the SEC Championship and they will meet in the college football playoff. Yeah. That, that to me was the one, but I see the caveat there, not necessarily in the national championship game because it is quite possible because I didn't think that either one of those teams, I was going to see them in the national championship game, but boy, oh boy, I got issues with Georgia and I thought it was going to come down to quarterback play and I thought it was going to be close. It wasn't even close. I mean, back. Yeah, he's, he got a lot of yardage, but overall, I saw a lot of bad decisions. I saw a lot of throws that were like, but at the same time, my goodness, Jalen Milrow made me a believer. Ooh. What were you doing when you were 17 years old? Cause Ryan Williams, dog, not only is he a dog, but he made his profile picture, Michael Vic after he beats the Bulldogs, some people, Peter probably didn't like that a whole lot. He also had the eye black that said, kill everybody. Yeah. That's a, that's 17 year olds, the biggest 17 year old dog I've ever, I've ever seen in my life. I'm going to say one thing that I've, I don't know that I've ever seen like that before. I think that's going full tilt as fast as they can possibly go, get, can stop on a dime and change directions multiple times. I don't care how old you are and I don't need the whole Juan Soto. He's 19. He's 19. He's 17. He's, yeah, we know how old he is. Whatever age he is, that kid just took the, one of the best programs in, in all of college football and made their secondary look silly multiple times. Six foot 175 and he's a freshman, so you think he's probably going to add some pounds by the time he's, you know, draft eligible. He's six foot 190. Still a little bit on the smaller end, but this day and age, it really doesn't matter as much. Old school, like in the eighties, I need six, 520 pound receivers nowadays, you can get by with that weight. I think that he's a, a future top five pick. Oh, I mean, you, you look at a Heisman Trophy winner that was similarly almost the exact same size that came from the same university. You look at guys in this league that we're talking about like a tank Dell that's 16570 pounds. At 17 years old, he's only going to get better. That's probably going to get bigger. But aside from any medical issues, that kid is a stud. He's really, really good. 8693, I believe Brian Thomas, Jr. Malik neighbors, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, LSU is wide receiver you and QB you, hard to argue. It's really hard to argue. Ellis, you're not QB you and burrow and Jaden Daniels in the last recent memory. Yeah, you had Jaden Daniels in the mix, but at the same time burrow and a whole lot of guys that didn't until Jaden Daniels. So we'll see, but there's no arguing wide receiver. I mean, of late, they've been unreal. Alabama might be close second, but in Ohio State, don't count them out either. Yeah. Jo, Ocho says blankers. He's more than Jalen, no role. He's okay. I don't even know his middle name. Respect his full name says Ocho because you are Ocho is our middle name guy. Ocho believes middle name. Somebody said that the Mike Vic thing is false. I don't care. It's too good of a story. I don't care if it's false or not. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story. I believe Mark Stoops would win at a big school if he had big resources. Not only did he beat Ole Miss this week, when on the road beat Ole Miss, he'd almost beat Georgia a couple of weeks ago. Mark Stoops, the winning his head coach in Kentucky football history, if he was in a big school with big resources, he'd be a really good head coach. I don't disagree with that because watching that football game and knowing that Ole Miss was supposed to come in with this offense and this Lane Kiffin and all the things they can do and he had him basically out of his hand. He was controlling that football game. They were in control of the majority. They looked like a really, really good squad and that was a huge win for that program and I'm sure he'll get some looks for some universities at the end of the year with a lot more resources because man, that was a hell of a win. 7-2-8-3 I believe that U of H has lost their season. Futures bright, 7-2-8-3. Don't fret. A key from L.A. I believe that Travis Hunter is the best player playing football, not just college, all levels. That's insane. He's not better than some of the guys in the NFL. College, he's really stinking good. He's not playing better than a lot of NFL guys though. Come on, Keith. Just say that he's an exceptional player on the college level that'll be an exceptional player in the NFL is one thing. To say he's the best player right now in any level of football, that's ludicrous. I will say Colorado, I believe Colorado's better than people realize. 4-1-2-0 in the big 12. Four wins is the most they've had this decade. By the way, four times they've done it. Last time they had five wins was 2019, two coaches ago. The last time they made a bowl was 2016, the Alamo Bowl. Deon's two wins away from making them bowl eligible for the first time in eight years. I didn't leave him. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how much the boys are going to be and there's either going to be greener pastures. I don't know. Like who, which coveted program will be available? Florida might be. They just such, okay. Florida State, Florida, Florida, Florida, Florida State, Florida and Florida State, both might be. Florida State just extended what's its name. They're not going to. I don't think they're going to do that as much as they might be. They would need A&M money. They could do it, but it's going to be very, very expensive. Florida would be more likely because Florida has a lot more resources because Florida states the state school. And they're always limited. They're always limited. I could see Florida hired Deon. Oh, yeah. That would be insane. Yep. I could see. So you think he's going to be coveted? No, he's that state. He owns that state. Look, I think wasn't it besides Florida State, wasn't Miami looking at him a couple of years ago? I don't remember. And he said, because everybody thought it was a shoe in for him to go back to his alma modern. He's like, no, I don't have any loyalties to Florida State. I do remember that. Yeah. I think Florida could go knocking on his door and from a recruiting standpoint and everything and just an overall kind of club standpoint, he could be big there. What else do you believe? I believe Tennessee's got an even better cake walk into the, into the playoff right now. Tennessee looks like if they just, they got to handle their business in conference. But the fact that Ole Miss just completely fell out of who I thought was going to be a one of the top echelon teams in the SEC, I believe Tennessee is, their offense is really good now too. Yeah. That if they can just, they have some balance on offense, they can stop some people a little bit on defense. Tennessee's going to be a team to record. I just don't know if they've beaten anybody yet. Not yet. I don't know if they've beaten anybody yet. That offense is always dangerous though. Hypo can run an offense. The ACC replay review crew got it right in the Miami game. I think so. Yeah. I think it was very clear. I was very disappointed in the camera angles, still trying to get someone to close up, get in on the football itself. But yeah, I was confused. I didn't see it live. I went back and tried to look at all the replays of it and I still wasn't sold that they got the call right. Yeah. I believe that it was very conclusive. Like you can see the player go down, you have to survive the ground to be a catch. You see the ball bobble, you see the Miami player have his hand on the ball and you see him sitting on at a balance. That's all you need. The balls bobbling didn't survive the ground. The Miami player has touched it while he's out of bounds. It's over. So you did see him. He came down with the football. He was falling down in the air. He was falling down and you can see as he's down, not throughout, not didn't survive the ground yet. You see the ball bobbling around. Yeah, I didn't see that. I couldn't see the replay where the ball was bobbling that conclusively, but I did see what was impressive to me. The fact that he got it, he caught it going up in the air to bring it down, which is very improper. I think it was stupid that he even called it a catch. The Miami player got up and ran with it. Like what are you doing here? What else do you believe? I believe in terms of the Big Ten, I think Ohio State right now has the most talented roster in all of college football. But the fact that the Big Ten sucks so badly that they're not going to have any competition and they're not going to be anywhere near ready for what we saw on Saturday night. I wonder if they'll get enough competition in the early rounds of the college football playoff. They need it and they also got to survive it because I think that you got to be at a certain level of primed up ready to play like we saw Saturday night and I don't think Ohio State's going to see it. Oregon is about your only chance of having another really good team in the Big Ten right now. I'm sleeping on somebody. You're sleeping on somebody. Indiana? Indiana's a football school. I believe the Hoosiers are a football school, 5 and 0 for the first time since 1967. We'll see. They're a football school Indiana. No, they're not. I love their football Indiana. Just that their basketball hasn't been great either even with Mike Woodson. I don't see that. They love their football in Indiana. What else? What else? I'm trying to think of what else I had over there. I believe SMU had a point to prove against Florida State. Florida State wanted to sue the ACC because they added SMU a Pony XS on Twitter responding the final score that Florida State Twitter sent out. It's the final Florida State 16 SMU 42. They sold out the stadium there by the way, Pony XS on Twitter. That school that bought their way into the ACC, the one you guys disrespected, made fun of, and even mentioned in your lawsuit. The team that just beat the bad word out of you on national television, take our name out of your mouth, little boy. You're not built for this. Pony XS went at Florida State after they beat them by 26. Yikes. Florida State's in trouble. How about you know V got the right quarterback after all and the fact that what happened with all of the NIL money and all the publicity just made them a tighter unit that's going to be a better football team and they made a statement too because they didn't just win when people were wondering where they were going to go undefeated by losing their starting quarterback and running back, they went off and they beat the hell out of Fresno State to say we ain't going anywhere and our quarterback's still pretty damn good. I think it was the first time they beat in Fresno, like in the last five to seven years they killed him, uh, Harge Malik Williams, I think it's Harge Malik Williams, he's better than the not so $100,000 man, he went 13 for 16, three touchdowns, ran for over 100 yards. I remember reading during the week two how happy the team was that he was getting his chance. They, uh, they, they came out to play and they said he's a big kid and he can pass it in play action and things like that, but he can also really do the same things running the football and that it was a tight battle in camp, but boy, it kind of galvanized that whole squad. And that was an ass whoop nine five zero six, I believe arches a top 10 quarterback across all leagues. I think he's talking only college football because if you're saying NFL, let's just come on. Who was it that today came out with their latest rankings of college quarterbacks with NFL potential and put archmending number one. Really? Yeah. Huh. That might be a little too quick. He's good. He's more athletic than his two uncles. I can tell you that. No doubt about that. And the final one for me. Uh, I believe that the big 12 is underrated for top 25 teams and then there's three more teams receiving votes. So you have seven of the country's top 35 teams, the big 12 like severely underrated, so wide open is wide open. I mean, can't the state be why you? I mean, that, that's going to be really interesting to see who wins that conference. Yeah. It's, it's open. Arizona winning at Utah. I never wrench into things for sure. You trust defense has been so good, but offensively, figure out quarterback once and for all because they don't even know who's starting week to week and it changes the odds within 30 minutes of kickoff. All right. Seven. You talking about Utah's quarterback rising. Yeah, rising. Yeah. He's never healthy. All right. Seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six. Let's get to our mailbag Monday. What is your question for the killer B seven one three seven eight zero three seven seven six. It's the B's on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five. Hey, for me, go to the break or for the good people at my bookie dot AG because we know football's back. 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My bookie dot AG is the place you ought to be when you were thinking about doing any kind of gambling where I always tell you you can bet anything anywhere, anytime with the only place I tell you to do it. It's my bookie dot AG. Use our promo code bet nine seven, five, he's a mailbag Monday with a killer be. He's got mail is your question for the B seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero ESPN HRP listed her line seven, one, three, seven, eight, zero, three, seven, seven, six, zero, six, one, three. What are the killer bees favorite cut a stake and how do you like it cooked boy, that's a good question. I first of all, I'm going to take heat for the second one, no matter what, because I always do, but I like my stakes medium well, and that's on. That's the way I like them. I don't care if you don't, and I would go with ribeye or fillet. You might as well as you be jerky if you're doing that to me, that's like I said, I already knew it was coming. Those are my favorite cuts too. I probably lean ribeye because my favorite bite is the the cap, the rib cap on the rib eye. So good. My wife made a steak yesterday. By the way, that was fantastic. Great. Stick better. You find many of the steak houses. Did you ever do dead? What is it? What do they call it when you boil it? Yeah, we she did that. We should beat it. We should beat it. We should beat it. Yeah, it's great. I love the sous vide. Really? Yeah, it's perfect. I mean, it's not my favorite way, but if you're looking to do it quick and like no hassle, it's perfect. And I told the reasons why in the past, why I like it well done, or medium well, because of the fact that that's what my dad would drink when he made the stakes on the weekends. And if they got a little extra cook, because he was drinking, you ate it anyway. But yeah, I like the fact that that flavor from a little extra char grill is always good. Phillip 68, how did you two meet? They put us together. They did. It was a it was a prearranged marriage. That's how we met. You never told me how we met at the Rockets games or something. No, we didn't get the Rockets game. You went to play golf at Deerwood and I was the bad boy. No way. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then we auditioned. I mean, I don't I don't I don't think we've met. I think I just put your clubs on the part. Yeah. Like you parked it in the front. Yeah. And then we went. I loved your. Houston. That place is awesome. It is a key from LA. Start, sit, cut CJ. Stroud, Jalen, green and Jeremy, Pena. That's a good question. It's boy, I think it's pretty easy. You start CJ, you sit, Pena and you cut Jalen, green. I didn't say it was a hard question. It's a good question. Oh, yeah. Starting CJ. Stroud is the easy part of it for sure. Is Jalen, green a better shooting guard than Jeremy, Pena is shortstop relative to baseball? Nope. You don't think? I think there's still a huge high ceiling for what he could be. What he's shown me so far is so inconsistent. At least from Pena, you get really good defense and you get decent hitting. And for a shortstop, probably a better than average player. So no, I'm leaving Pena first, green and glass. I think green's a better shooting guard than Pena is a shortstop. You kind of changed your opinion on Pena. No, I like Pena. Yeah. I like Pena. I'm just higher on green than you are. You're probably right. Yeah. So I mean, I like Pena. I'm not happy that I'm cutting Pena. I like Jeremy Pena. I would extend Jeremy Pena. He's a team-friendly extension to buy out his free agent years. I don't dislike Pena, but I think Pena is probably a middle of the pack shortstop relative to baseball. I think Jalen Green is probably middle of the pack shooting guard relative to the NBA, but I think his ceiling tire, the pain is I think I think that's why I'm going there. Because I think Jalen Green has a chance to be a top 10 shooting guard. I don't think Pena has a chance to be a top 10 shortstop. And all to me, it all comes down to if in another offseason, does he even get better offensively because he, you know, he shortened his swing up, did some things. But yeah, you're probably right. In terms of the overall ceiling for potential to be great, Jalen's definitely more upside. I'm buying the potential here. Pena's got a better resume. He was the World Series MVP. Ocho. How do you think Niko's 6'4" frame factors into his connection was stralled? By the way, Brian Thomas Jr. 6'3" and runs a 4'3". 40. He's really, really good Ocho and he proved it yesterday. And if I wasn't a believer before, I'm a super believer now, but at the same time, I don't think what Niko does with CJ has anything to do with his frame and his size or anything like that. They just, they have a connection, the off script, they know exactly, they can read each other, CJ can trust him, and the fact that he's that blue collar one that can go up in traffic, high point it, take the hits, get the extra yards, they got a special connection on the off script plays. There's no doubt. I think his size does better. I think it's easier to shield a defender. I think it's easier to make catches in traffic. I think it's easier to throw a ball. I think that the final throw, the first half, like that's a ball where like you're throwing at the crossbar of the goal post that you're wanting Niko with his size to go up and get. It's just that, that's CJ Ermo, that is a bad throw. Eric the driver, what was y'all's first car and how long did you keep it? Oh boy, um, the first car that was actually mine was a VW rabbit diesel. That. Diesel? Yeah, a diesel. My dad found a deal on and boy did he because it like it blew a valve on my way back to school. And it was like James Bond. I was sending out like a half mile of smoke and needed all this work. I think I kept it for about eight months. That's nuts. Yeah, the engine just completely went complete. Mine was a 94 Toyota four runner. It was gold. It had a little bit of a lift on it. I probably kept it for. They run forever. Maybe five to seven years. I'm sure you got some five to seven years. Yeah. I love that car. Not so much. Once the engine goes, you're, I mean, anything in the engine, it all goes. Toyota's last forever. Yeah, they do. Jasper, mail back questions for blankers. I'm about to head to meet and greet hosted by Charles Woodson. What are some good questions I should ask? Jasper, are you okay? Are you all right? Are you healed? Are you in a state to be asking questions to Charles Woodson be the question I have for you? We'll be a good question for Charles Woodson. I'd ask him about his opinion on Hunter and a guy that looks like he could be in the Heisman race for the first time since he and him in terms of playing both ways and the way he plays at a certain level on both sides of the football. That's a good question. Do you think there is a trickle down effect from the Astros to the space Cowboys with respect to the locker room environment that led to the championship? No, I'm not going to associate that with locker room environment. I think I think that the Astros in terms of the fact that once they made the move and bought the team and they've upgraded all the facilities, they gave them all the assets to use. But I just think that at a certain point to Jeremy's point, whether they end up being major leaguers or not, you've got older guys in your system. And that means something because a lot of guys are being forced up to AAA at really young ages right now. You had an experienced team, you had pretty cabbage in the lineup. You had some vets there that did their job. I actually think the championship culture does carry down a bit. Like, is it the reason they want it all? No. But I do think that it does have a trickle down effect when you have a championship winning culture like the Astros have. Niko Collins greater than less than or equal to CD lamb. Look, I think that CD lamb can be more just flat out explosive speed wise. But overall, it's hard for me to argue with the fact that we just got done talking about how physical he is, his size, he high points football. He's not afraid to go up in traffic. I know that the sexy pick is CD lamb. I'll take Niko. I think CD lambs are more talented receiver than Niko Collins. I think Niko has closed the gap to where I was a year and four games ago. I think he's closed the gap in the last four games. Niko Collins is the most receiving yards in Texans history through four games. He might even be a more productive receiver than CD lamb, but I think CD lamb is a better talent. He leads all of the NFL in yards right now. Is he still far as I don't look, I don't look until the weeks over. So I look on Tuesday. Okay. That's fair. But I'm not sure right now he does. I know he did at the end of the last week. I mean, had a huge game yesterday. So I would assume he does. So are the bills upper echelon or upper echelon e? I get they got blown out, but let's respect who they are, especially so that when we win, we can get the join the cool kids at the lunch table. They might have played the best team in the NFL last night right now. So the fact is is that kind of like when we were talking about the sky falling with the Vikings game for the Texans, Buffalo has looked so good until last night and they ran into a buzz saw, but Buffalo is definitely an upper echelon team in this league. I'll call him a professional on E. I don't, I wouldn't put him in the same tier as the Chiefs and the Ravens. And I don't trust Josh Allen to beat playoff teams three straight weeks. And I'm just going to double down on that until he proves me wrong and he didn't play well yesterday. Didn't have a good game yesterday. I don't think I want burning questions do you have with the Astros playoffs beginning tomorrow? What worries you about the Tigers? What are your Astro questions ahead of game one of the wild card series against Detroit tomorrow 713 7803776, it's the bees on ESPN 97 5 and ESPN 92 5 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. What is your big question you have? The Astros beginning the playoffs tomorrow, a minute made home for AJ Hinch and the Detroit fighting AJ Hinches 713 7803776. McTaggart tweeted earlier, it's 50 50 that you're on Alvarez will be on the roster tomorrow. The deadline pencils down 10 a.m. tomorrow. He Ocho asks, he also a spot I gave no hint about Verleter. I'd be stunned if Verleter is on the wild card roster. I think they're going to keep an extra lefty because the Tigers have a couple of lefties. I think they'll keep Brian King, Caleb Ferguson and then Josh Hader. But Ocho asks, would it surprise you if Kawhi Alvarez didn't play versus the Tigers? It would shock me. I said it when we talked about it at four o'clock. I firmly believe that he will be in the lineup. I expect him to play. I'm not buying 50 50. I know they're going to be hyper cautious and they're also going to use a little gamesmanship. But when you hear nothing but positives and you know, he's taking BP and he's running outside and he's doing those things. And this is the biggest series of the year bar none. He's going to play. Yeah, I think he's going to play like if he's capable of running around the day and if he's capable of taking batting practice, I think that he's unless they're lying to us about the batting practice. Kirk Gibson in the World Series, right? I mean, you're not in the World Series, but this is, you know, win or go home. This is the biggest series of the year. If he can swing a baseball bat no matter what his leg feels like, he's going to be in the lineup. You're right. He's going to designate it hit, but he's going to play maybe like, even if he doesn't start, like even if I'm with you, I'm with you, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here. Even if he doesn't start, what if he can give you one plate appearance in the entire series? Is one plate appearance in the entire series worth more of keeping, you know, Shea Whitcomb or gray cat and I look him, Zach DeSinto or great messenger? Of course it is. Yeah. So I think that you're not will be on the roster tomorrow. Now his availability, I think to me is the bigger question. I, my hunch is that he's going to D H bat second. Yeah. I'm with you. Yeah. I just, I don't need now. We're really to the point where the bets over and the regular season doesn't matter in terms of playing left field. I don't need to see him in left field the rest of the year, but his one at bat is better than any other bat you could put in there for how many times the guys you mentioned are going to bat, but he's so vital to this team. He's got to play. Largo asked my astro playoff question, what radio station will the game be on? All of them, except for the highwood hell. You can list to it right here. ESPN 97 five, the national unbiased broadcast and we'll have the unbiased post game right after killer bees will be on the air live immediately after Alex will hinch put colon. Uh huh. I see what you did there. There are coals, not a tiger though. What are your looming questions you have? What worries you about the tigers? The tigers are the hottest team in baseball. That's what worries me about the tigers. They're young. They don't have any idea that they shouldn't, you know, that they shouldn't be there. Yeah, they really are. They from the standpoint of in a positive way, they're young and dumb because they don't care if you think that they're not supposed to be there. The fact that they got there after they made the trades they made to continue to plan for the future at the trade deadline, they're the hottest team in baseball. They got the Cy Young Award winner going in a short series in game one. And right now they feel pretty invincible and they're cocky there again. They have no fear coming into this series no matter who they're playing. And that's why of the two teams, I would have preferred Kansas City worse on the road. I think that they're dinged up. I think that that was a better matchup overall for the Astros, but bottom line is don't look at this and say it's the tigers of old and the Astros are going to steam roll them. That's a really good baseball team playing the best baseball in the major leagues. Anything can happen in a three game baseball series. So like I, I don't love three game series. I don't like five game series. So I despise three game series scoobles going to throw a third of that three game series. He is decide he's going to be the Cy Young. He is the AL triple crown winner. So you're facing the best pitcher in the American league. So that's something that worries me and their pitching staff's been really stinking good since they went to this little opener and then throw the game into the bullpen. Their bullpen's been really dominant and AJ Hinch is just matching everything up with the pockets that they're going to face in the lineup. So they're pitching what worries me the most. Their offense, you look at the numbers, it's not great, but they have some guys who've come on like Kerry, Kerry Carpenter has missed a good chunk of the year. He is back and he is performing a Parker Meadows has been better. He's been somebody who's who's very talented. That has been better. Their best players probably Riley Green. He's the only player that has an OPS over 800. So their offense isn't great, but they have a lot of young players that two of them didn't really play the most of the year. So they have enough offense that can't beat you, especially if they pitch well. Yeah. And again, momentum means something, especially in a short series. They have lost to in a row though, but they're coming in thinking that they got it that they got a chance against anybody and the fact that they're not supposed to be here. They're playing with house money. I just feel like that's a scary team to have to deal with because they don't have anything that's holding them back from just saying, what do we got to lose? Let's just throw caution to the win and go get them and you've got the best picture in the American league facing you in game one. Yeah, that's scary. Yeah. All right. 713 780 ESPN HRMP listener line, 61613, how far do the Astros make into the playoffs? Homer hat. They're going to win it all. Place balls play offs are such a crapshoot. I have no idea. I think that I think my personal opinion is this is the, this is the biggest series for me. If they beat the Tigers, they're going to be in the world. Okay. I, I think they could lose the series. I think they could win it all. I really do think that's the right thing to say that about every team, but as bipolar as the Astros have been this year, would it shock you if they get skunked by scuba and then a bullpen day on Wednesday? Not me. Wouldn't shock me if they have a pitching staff that can just, you know, the Astros ride it all the way out, win it all on the backs of Frohumber, Hunter Brown and then Jordan's heroic. Kyle Tucker's heroic. Alteve Brigman. And they win the World Series. Would that surprise me? No. I could see any, I could see those scenarios and I could see anything in between. Yeah. I could see him win in the first two games of the series, win a tight battle in in game one and eliminate scuba, win game two. Hopefully you've saved Hunter Brown because you won game one and then go right in and steamroll because now you're hot and you're playing a Cleveland team that you just got done winning there. Though you're, you're right. They held back some pitchers, but you've always seemed to have their number in the post season. And the same thing with the Yankees. I could see them if this series is the key because tigers are playing with house money. You beat the tigers. I think you'll see them in the world series. Texas juggernaut. The thing is the three game series and the Astros offense at home. Yeah. I was thinking about it this morning and I understand the wild card. You're supposed to make it so that, you know, you credit and give the extra rest to the two best teams. But if there was a way after the wild card to make both series seven game series, and I know they're, they already think it goes too long in November, but that's the best way to do it. The wild card? No. The wild card stays three division and then the division and the league championship series are both seven game. I think that, uh, as Sasquatch says, it's great analysis. They could win and they could also lose. That's what you pay me for. That's why they pay me the big bucks. All right. 713-780-3776. I trust CJ's trout. Do you? It's the bees on ESPN 97-5 and ESPN 97-2-5. ESPN 97-5. The kids are back in school. The cooler temperatures are on the way. 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