Can the Houston Astros – baseball’s BEST team in June – keep this up??
[Music] your beloved Houston Astros are back above 500 after taking two of three from the supposedly purple hot because of Grimace New York Mets over the weekend hello and welcome aboard Galant and George it is Monday July 1st 2024 Joe George the Astros are back in they ful place in the Iron Throne of the American League West just kidding still not there but above 500 almost feels that way it’s just a throne of Swords that’s what we learned last night uh this was what a what a weekend uh Paul dare I say I think this series win was more impressive than what they did against the Orioles whoa to start the series with from with Blanco not being great on Friday night you lose that game Saturday is just all over the place you’ve got disaster plays from framber you have the big comeback win yesterday Altuve gets thrown out of game for I still don’t know why you go to extras you smash them in the 11th I’m impressed a a bullpen day and and that was the one game I thought they were going to lose looking at the series on Friday when we were here was they’re going to win two out of three Sunday’s probably the game they lose you overcame a lot of adversity in this one shout out to Sean the bearded one duban who goes goes out there and gives you three and a third Innings of hitless baseball and while you did have another rough moment for your Bull Pen you overcome it and you overcome a twoh hour and 45 minute rain delay that basically meant that you couldn’t use Josh hater so instead of using Josh hater they put in Taylor Scott who’s been so clutch all season long Scott does enough again did give up a run but the Astros get that one run in the um top of the 10th inning and then they pour it on in the top of the 11th to get the 105 win after rallying for a 96 Victory on Saturday yeah they overcame a lot not great performances from Manel Blanco not great performance by from baldez they overcame shaky umpiring whether it was Jose Altuve fouling that ball off of his foot but for whatever reason it was called a fair ball he gets ejected for only the second time in his career first time since 2016 and you also had them losing count of the balls and Strikes on Saturday that was twice I think yeah that crew I thought I was bad at math Paul I thought I couldn’t do math they only have to count to four counting should be easy sometimes you lose track when you count but when you aren’t even getting past you know five fingers that’s a problem not good but the Astros overcame that adversity they were s 17 and N in June did you know that was excuse me 17 and 8 in June that was the best record in all of baseball it’s pretty damn good yeah they they were playing and all without Tucker he played in what three games in June you did all this without Kyle Tucker Justin Verlander’s been out what they the way they’ve turned their season around is so impressive if if you’re not all the way bought back in you know they’re just a game above 500 but but they’re back the Astros are absolutely back this is the team that we’ve been waiting for the entire season you sweep the Orioles you take care of business versus the Rockies then you play the other hottest team in baseball besides yourself the New York Mets had won 11 out of 13 games before Friday and you handled them this series and like you said Paul overcoming adversity left and right all these different things that could have gone wrong and just all the momentum you had it was it was it was right for the taking of the Season 2 turn sour once again and they just they figured it out I I I was so impressed with what they did this weekend honestly yeah you should be it was a very impressive series Victory and I’m not going to go so far as to say it’s more impressive than the series sweep of the Orioles but given the limitations that they are currently dealing with they do deserve a lot of credit you take a look at the schedule before they wrap up the first half of the season for the All-Star break they are in the midst of a 10 game road trip but three of them down already Toronto with a 2:00 game today I don’t know what the Canadians are doing today it’s Canada Canada day that makes sense does that mean the Toronto Blue Jays are going to wear their all red communist bull bleep I I believe so you’re the Blue Jays yes you’re not red they’re the red Jays I hate that fan base for very very small reasons but I am a petty man they travel very loud L yeah to Seattle so when I was in Seattle the few games that the as excuse me the Mariners played against the Blue Jays yeah there would be way too many and they’re weirdly cocky now I guess anyone can be cocky when they’re playing the Mariners given that franchise’s lack of history but okay it’s Canada day three against the twins three against Miami at home and then you wrap it up with three against a very shaky Texas team right now before you get to the all-star break so 17 and8 in June is that sustainable number one number two does it need to be sustainable Joe George I would say yes yes in far as far as it is sustainable yeah I I would say best team in all of baseball over the course of this month I think it is with no Kyle Tucker I know with the pitching limitations they have right now I think it is because a lot of those I know more injuries can happen but a lot of that it it feels on the horizon is going to start to get better Justin Verlander is throwing again Kyle Tucker I I think is going to play baseball again this season I I don’t know I I we thought he was out for three days and it’s been a month but Luis Garcia Jake Bloss I know one start not not expecting a lot of him we still have Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers around the corner I don’t know if they’ll have the best record in baseball the rest of the season but can they be a top team absolutely the rest of the year well yeah and the matter of can I think we all believe they’re capable of it especially given that they swept Baltimore just over a week ago and on top of that they took two or three from the hottest team in baseball but will it continue that’s what I’m asking here uh yes I think it will I think they’ll continue to be the hottest team in baseball for the rest of the way that’s a lot of months basball mean that’s what I mean cuz now they’re back above 500 yeah awesome I mean there’s going to be down stretches of course but like I think object like when you look big picture throughout the season they will be one of the best teams in baseball if not the best team in baseball I believe in them this Talent what they have they can acquire a pitcher at the deadline if things go wrong they’ve said they’re going to be buyers they’re talking about buying two pitchers as has been reported by John hayon they absolutely can be big picture the best team in baseball the rest of the season I think this is going to be their best month All Season that’s not to say that they won’t have good months the rest of the way but do you expect them to have the best record in the majors a couple of times the rest of the way one time the rest of the way I mean you’re competing against 29 other teams for that I’m GNA say no on that front and I really think August is going to be a brutal month for them because one we talked about it last week they’re playing against basically all the teams that they’re in Wild Card contention with among those AL West games too against the Seattle Mariners so that’s going to be really tricky that month and to say that it needs to be on this level for them to make the playoffs or to win the AL West that’s a bit of a stretch but they cannot have another losing month they have put themselves in a position where because they’re only one game’s over 500 after having the best month of any team in baseball this happens again I mean they might find themselves back in that just outside the Wild Card racing Seattle pulls its head out of its butt I mean they have good pitching at the very least do we expect Seattle to be like this the rest of the way I do not yeah that’s why I do they need to be this the rest of the the rest of the season to win the American League West absolutely not do I expect Seattle to be as bad as they’ve been recently that’s also not true I don’t expect Seattle if they don’t really figure out their lineup they they just don’t score enough runs they’re they’re not going to be what they’ve been recently they’ve won three games since June 19th they have they opened this W this door wide open for you to chase the top of the AL West I don’t expect him to be that bad do you have to be the best team in baseball to win the division no you don’t because Seattle to me isn’t going to go on a run that terrifies me again this season they’re a good team I don’t think they’re a great team so I I still the expectation would be that they win the division once again this year in 2024 man I I want to say all these things and I I am really impressed by what they have done of late but it it’s not just thinking about okay the the level of play that they’re going to have to do more of with the injuries they’re dealing with the lineup we know it’s really good and they’ve been doing what they’ve done this past month without Kyle Tucker but I really wonder about what these arms are going to look like in that month of August that is a huge and fair concern because I mean you know take a look at yesterday where you almost found yourself in a situation where you had to put raf Raphael Montero out there because of all the pitchers that you used because you didn’t have a starting pitcher on Sunday you’re throwing your relievers out there for a lot of innings you are obviously doing the most that you can with your starting pitching right now but your starting pitching it’s four guys and we’ll see what happens the rest of this road trip there aren’t two days off in the middle of this week to bail you out again so that’s my big concern is come August especially the end of August are these arms still going to have gas left in the tank cuz right now I’m operating like Lance with col is not coming back even though he supposedly is operating like Luis Garcia isn’t coming back and I don’t know when Justin Verlander is coming back so these are all my concerns they deserve a lot of credit for this weekend I’m very happy about what they did this weekend but I’m wondering if this current stretch of play is sustainable best team in baseball they don’t have to be that but you do have to be closer to it than you’ve been already and what you did this month against easier schedule than in past months and especially an easier schedule than what you have in August again Hardy pat on the back nine wins in 10 games finally above 500 but still got to keep it up nothing is done at this point in time you still got July August and September and to the pitching part like think about Hunter Brown last year he was pretty good right for the most part until he crossed his inning threshold and it looked like his arm was going to fall off that’s going to happen to Blanco where he’s going to pass his inning threshold very early in the season compared to what he normally does same thing with erti they’re be expected to throw more Innings and more pitches than they’ve ever done the bullpen like you said is extremely taxed I I’m not even sure like who’s in Avail available for a game like like today a after yesterday obviously dubin’s not available what Presley pitched back-to-back days like who’s who’s an option I I saw multiple media members you know tweeting yesterday and sure most of us thought it the same thing maybe there’d be a corresponding move today of sending dub and down for a couple days and bringing someone up from Sugarland having them meet you in Toronto that did not happen so how do you get through this stretch it is the biggest question is can the arms survive he’s oh sorry sorry um and just with the history of the teene we know the answer is that’s a tough question to answer it is he is Joe George I’m Paul Gan it’s Gan and Georg hasb a 975 and 925 is this recent stretch of hot play by the Houston Astros sustainable does it need to be sustainable you can answer that at 71378 3776 to call to text you can join us on twitch.tv espn975 on YouTube at ESPN Houston
The Astros took 2 of 3 from the purple hot Mets this weekend to go above .500 for the first time all season. They were an MLB best 17-8 in June. Can they keep it up? I discussed that today on @ESPNHouston with @JoeGeorgeRadio. #Astros #HoustonAstros #MLB
