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Geoff Blum’s Astros checkup · Foul Territory

0:02
Speaker 1: Blum, great guy, Houston, Astros broadcaster, just a good person,
0:08
Speaker 1: fourteen year MLB veteran World Series champion, and nice enough
0:12
Speaker 1: to be with us on foul Territory today. Blum, I
0:14
Speaker 1: tell you what every year that I try to say,
0:16
Speaker 1: the Astros are in some sort of rebuild or reboot
0:18
Speaker 1: or whatever the heck you want to call it. Here
0:20
Speaker 1: they are battling, jocking for position again atop the Al West.
0:24
Speaker 1: What has been your biggest takeaway of what this team
0:27
Speaker 1: has accomplished this year with a lot of missing pieces,
0:30
Speaker 1: a lot of injuries, and just a lot of unknown
0:32
Speaker 1: and welcome to the show.
0:34
Speaker 2: Good to be on the show. I always appreciate the
0:36
Speaker 2: opportunity seeing some friendly faces. And I'm glad I got
0:39
Speaker 2: the memo about the backwards hat, so I'm ready to go.
0:43
Speaker 2: But you know, the old saying, or I guess it's
0:46
Speaker 2: a new old saying, is the Astros are inevitable, and
0:50
Speaker 2: this year is truly a tale of organizational depth and
0:54
Speaker 2: maybe a little bit of culture involved, because, like you said,
0:57
Speaker 2: a lot of teams around the league have dealt with
0:59
Speaker 2: a lot of injury, and not just injuries that are
1:01
Speaker 2: going to keep guys out on a fifteen day il
1:04
Speaker 2: and they'll be back and mix right in. These have
1:06
Speaker 2: been catastrophic injuries that these teams have had to try
1:10
Speaker 2: and fix and replace and continue, and the Astros have
1:13
Speaker 2: done a very good job. I know that every year
1:16
Speaker 2: we start out the season with prospect lists and who
1:19
Speaker 2: has the best minor league system, and the Astros are
1:22
Speaker 2: continually at the bottom. Yet this season they have filled
1:25
Speaker 2: their rotation with a couple of rookies. You know, throughout
1:29
Speaker 2: the course of the season. They're going to ride a
1:31
Speaker 2: guide tonight in Jason Alexander here in Houston for another start,
1:35
Speaker 2: who's been brilliant for the Astros with his fastball, change
1:37
Speaker 2: up mix. The other day, we just saw a guy
1:40
Speaker 2: named Zach Cole who was number eighteen in the organization
1:43
Speaker 2: as far as prospects, and he pops a home run
1:46
Speaker 2: on the first pitch hecs. So I think it's just
1:47
Speaker 2: a credit to you know, the ability to draft, but
1:50
Speaker 2: also the ability to develop. I don't think a lot
1:52
Speaker 2: of these minor league coaches these days get enough attention
1:56
Speaker 2: or enough love because they're kind of, you know, tucked
1:58
Speaker 2: underneath the every organization. But if they have a huge
2:02
Speaker 2: impact on what these guys do at the big league level,
2:04
Speaker 2: and the Astros fortunately have created this dynamic where if
2:07
Speaker 2: you get to the big leagues, the expectation is you're
2:10
Speaker 2: gonna mix into this clubhouse, and if you're helping us win,
2:12
Speaker 2: you're gonna stick. If you're if you're not stirring the
2:15
Speaker 2: pot the right way, we're gonna get ready and find
2:17
Speaker 2: somebody else. But they've been very fortunate with some of
2:19
Speaker 2: the guys they've called up.
2:21
Speaker 3: All Right, well, who's gonna step in for the holes
2:23
Speaker 3: that they're currently missing?
2:25
Speaker 4: Because now it's not cutting time.
2:27
Speaker 3: I get it, like, you can't win because you won
2:30
Speaker 3: the last seven Like this last seven years doesn't have
2:33
Speaker 3: anything to do with this last two weeks of this season.
2:37
Speaker 3: Do they have enough to step in for the Josh
2:40
Speaker 3: Hater hole to step in for the fact that they
2:44
Speaker 3: don't have an Alex Bragman who has been that winning
2:47
Speaker 3: clutch player. I know Correa is back, but do they
2:51
Speaker 3: have enough to win a division or do they not
2:54
Speaker 3: even need to win the division because we're not gonna
2:56
Speaker 3: talk about the wild card yet.
2:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's an itch question. Basically, do they
3:01
Speaker 2: have enough to get in the playoffs? And I think
3:03
Speaker 2: they do, and you brought up some key names, are
3:05
Speaker 2: I no losing Bragman is a big piece and obviously
3:08
Speaker 2: he's enhanced with the Boston Red Sox have been able
3:11
Speaker 2: to do both internally and on the field. You know,
3:15
Speaker 2: he's a great mind, sees the game a little bit differently.
3:18
Speaker 2: And then you mentioned Carlos Kore. He's kind of come
3:20
Speaker 2: in and really kind of filled that void of what
3:23
Speaker 2: the Astros are missing as far as leadership in the
3:26
Speaker 2: vocal sense. He will pull guys off the side and say,
3:28
Speaker 2: hey we need more of this, or hey, you did
3:30
Speaker 2: a great job. Continue to do that. They've got jord
3:34
Speaker 2: On Alvarez who's kind of the silent, you spoken guy
3:37
Speaker 2: that can go into that lineup and do some damage.
3:39
Speaker 2: You can follow his lead a little bit. Jeremy Paine
3:41
Speaker 2: has turned into a force on offense. So they've got
3:43
Speaker 2: some key pieces and key situations to be able to
3:46
Speaker 2: go out there and compete. For me down the stretch,
3:49
Speaker 2: it's going to be the Astros offense. I think they
3:51
Speaker 2: do have enough pitching. Oh, the starting pitching has done
3:54
Speaker 2: a great job. They're top ten as far as team era.
3:56
Speaker 2: They get a ton of swing and miss still even
3:58
Speaker 2: with Josh had or not the back end of that bullpen.
4:01
Speaker 2: So for me, it's going to be on the offense.
4:03
Speaker 2: Their record is something astonishing around eighty five percent when
4:07
Speaker 2: you know probability when they score four runs, So that's
4:10
Speaker 2: kind of the threshold I feel they need to get to.
4:12
Speaker 2: But I'm with you in the sense that when Josh
4:15
Speaker 2: Hader went down, not just with the shoulder injury, but
4:17
Speaker 2: with something that was going to keep him out the
4:19
Speaker 2: entire regular season, I had a little trepidation in the
4:22
Speaker 2: thought that he wasn't going to be at the back
4:24
Speaker 2: end of that bullpen because Brian Abrad, who has been
4:26
Speaker 2: such a phenomenal setup guy, and Brian King Steven Okert
4:30
Speaker 2: were great matchup guys getting to the back end of
4:32
Speaker 2: the bullpen. Now you're forcing some of these guys who
4:34
Speaker 2: aren't usually leverage guys into situations where you're gonna almost
4:38
Speaker 2: force Josh Miller and Joe A. Spotted to be very
4:40
Speaker 2: creative on what pockets they work those guys into.
4:44
Speaker 5: Wellmer, I know you're talking offense, but who's pitching. Alexander's
4:47
Speaker 5: pitching tonight, and then who it's TBD, So you're talking
4:50
Speaker 5: about all this great pitching.
4:51
Speaker 4: Who's pitching?
4:52
Speaker 5: Because the Rangers lined up their three best really, but
4:55
Speaker 5: the Valdi out, I mean they went They're going lighter, Merril,
4:59
Speaker 5: Kelly and for the last one, and then you got
5:01
Speaker 5: it Seattle coming in. So what is who's pitching? You
5:05
Speaker 5: keep talking about offense, but who's gonna pitch the next
5:07
Speaker 5: couple of games?
5:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's gonna be a problem the next couple of days.
5:11
Speaker 2: It Maybe you can almost get the sense that the
5:15
Speaker 2: Astros fear the Seattle Mariners more than they fear the
5:18
Speaker 2: Texas Rangers. I know that the Rangers are leading this series,
5:21
Speaker 2: I believe six to four, but the run differential, I
5:24
Speaker 2: think is at a flat line zero. They've scored as
5:26
Speaker 2: many as they've given up. Dolas Garcia is coming back.
5:29
Speaker 2: We still haven't seen Simmy and Seeger and credit to
5:32
Speaker 2: the Rangers for finding guys like Hellman and Freeman, some
5:34
Speaker 2: of these other guys. Josh Smith doing a got good
5:37
Speaker 2: job stepping in and scoring runs. They're getting timely hitting
5:41
Speaker 2: at the right time. But who's gonna stop them? Jason
5:44
Speaker 2: Alexander hasn't faced him yet. He's been very good after
5:47
Speaker 2: losses for the Astros, amazingly enough. And he's pretty predictable
5:51
Speaker 2: as far as he's gonna come at you with a
5:53
Speaker 2: two seamed fastball and a change up. He's not afraid
5:56
Speaker 2: to throw it to righty's or lefties. So it's gonna
5:58
Speaker 2: be up to the Rangers to adjust to that quickly.
6:00
Speaker 2: But like you said, once you get past that, is
6:03
Speaker 2: it going to be a bullpen day on that last day?
6:05
Speaker 2: Is it going to be a guy like aj Bluebaugh
6:07
Speaker 2: who's looked brilliant in the last maybe four or five
6:10
Speaker 2: outings coming out of the bullpen. He's gone one inning,
6:12
Speaker 2: he's got two innings, he's gotten four innings at a time.
6:15
Speaker 2: He's a guy that's kind of been lengthened out a
6:17
Speaker 2: little bit or do they piggyback, And it's really it's
6:20
Speaker 2: kind of a tough spot when you're going down the
6:21
Speaker 2: stretch trying to, you know, get back into the American
6:25
Speaker 2: League West Division lead. But they really saved up their
6:28
Speaker 2: big dogs in Hunter Brown and Frober Valdez for the
6:30
Speaker 2: Seattle Mariners. You're right, Blimmer.
6:33
Speaker 1: I mean, I know it sounds a little bit obvious,
6:35
Speaker 1: but if the Astros sweep the series, they go at
6:37
Speaker 1: five games, If the Astros get swept, they fall behind
6:39
Speaker 1: the Rangers by one game. I mean, is this let's
6:42
Speaker 1: circle this thing? I mean, what are the conversations going
6:45
Speaker 1: on in the dugout in the clubhouse. I know everyone
6:47
Speaker 1: says one game at a time, blah blah blah. This
6:49
Speaker 1: is not one game at a time, my friend.
6:51
Speaker 2: This is big. It's huge, and it's kind of crazy
6:54
Speaker 2: to think that everything comes down to this home stand
6:57
Speaker 2: for the Astros, where they've played very well. You know,
7:01
Speaker 2: the Seattle Mariners pitching rotation has been roughed up on
7:04
Speaker 2: the road. You kind of hope these trends kind of
7:05
Speaker 2: continue themselves. But I'm with you in the sense that
7:08
Speaker 2: you kind of throw everything out the window because they're
7:10
Speaker 2: five and five against the Mariners throughout the course of
7:13
Speaker 2: the season. So this goes big in a head to
7:15
Speaker 2: head matchup if they both be if they're both the
7:17
Speaker 2: three and six seeds, who's going to host that Wildcard
7:21
Speaker 2: Division series potentially? And then you have the Texas Rangers
7:24
Speaker 2: who are just trying to fight their way into this
7:26
Speaker 2: postseason and this is a huge series for them. They
7:29
Speaker 2: lead the Astros six to four overall coming into this series,
7:32
Speaker 2: but It's still amazing to me that we can play
7:34
Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty two game schedule and we're set
7:37
Speaker 2: to play game one fifty one to one fifty seven,
7:40
Speaker 2: and it's all basically going to come down this these
7:43
Speaker 2: next six games for all three of these teams to
7:46
Speaker 2: see who wins the West and who potentially becomes that wildcard,
7:49
Speaker 2: because the Astros are that third wildcard, and I think
7:52
Speaker 2: the reality is kind of set in a little bit.
7:54
Speaker 2: It will be interesting to get to the ballpark today
7:57
Speaker 2: and see the reaction of these guys and see the
7:59
Speaker 2: intensity of the pregame workout as they get ready for
8:01
Speaker 2: this series against the Rangers. But yeah, they can sit
8:05
Speaker 2: there and say, and you know, there's three of us
8:08
Speaker 2: that on this broadcast that have been in that dugout
8:10
Speaker 2: in playoff contending type situations where you say all the
8:13
Speaker 2: right things to the public, but internally, you know, you
8:16
Speaker 2: can feel that here on the back of your neck
8:17
Speaker 2: kind of jump a little bit, or you can feel
8:19
Speaker 2: that twitchiness a little bit. But I'm sure that's going
8:22
Speaker 2: on in the Astros dugout because everything is very real
8:24
Speaker 2: for the next six games.
8:27
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9:27
Speaker 5: By the way, I gotta go back. So how important
9:29
Speaker 5: is it for the Astros to have home field? Because
9:32
Speaker 5: all I've heard from about the last five years is
9:34
Speaker 5: we can't hit in Houston. The batter's eye sucks and
9:37
Speaker 5: this and that. So now all of a sudden you
9:39
Speaker 5: love Houston. Like wait, I thought everyone, all the Astros
9:42
Speaker 5: guys hated playing there.
9:43
Speaker 4: Now they love it.
9:44
Speaker 5: Wait, cleared up for me, please, Blummer, I wish I could.
9:47
Speaker 5: They fixed They fixed the they fixed the batters either.
9:50
Speaker 5: They painted like that little section right, so now it's better.
9:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, they keep creeping over. Eventually that entire section is
9:56
Speaker 2: going to be green. But they keep, you know, pushing
9:58
Speaker 2: that Budweiser's signe out of the way. Yeah, they keep
10:01
Speaker 2: expanding that, trying to compete with you know, there are
10:05
Speaker 2: issues with the batter's eye. You know, the lights are
10:06
Speaker 2: a little bit lower in Dyke and Park. The sound
10:10
Speaker 2: is incredibly loud, which favors them. I think they enjoy
10:13
Speaker 2: the fan base that shows out for them a year
10:15
Speaker 2: after year after year. So there is some pleasure in
10:19
Speaker 2: playing at home knowing that you've got the fan base
10:21
Speaker 2: behind you. But there are certain things that you've got
10:23
Speaker 2: to overcome when you come into Dyke and Park. I
10:25
Speaker 2: know a lot of guys adjust by going out early,
10:27
Speaker 2: taking batting practice. But at the same time, the Astros
10:30
Speaker 2: have been very good on the road too, considering how
10:32
Speaker 2: some of the other teams have played. The Astros are
10:34
Speaker 2: actually a game or two, I believe over five hundred
10:37
Speaker 2: on the road. But in theory, playing at home is
10:41
Speaker 2: always better. But I'm not sure that you know that
10:44
Speaker 2: carries a lot of weight because I think, and this
10:46
Speaker 2: is literally just off the top of my head, because
10:48
Speaker 2: since the All Star Break, I think at home the
10:51
Speaker 2: Astros have been sub five hundred, and I think they've
10:54
Speaker 2: been outscored at home, So I'm not sure that that's
10:57
Speaker 2: a paramount idea. But at the same time, if you
10:59
Speaker 2: failish a season playing six games seven days on the road,
11:03
Speaker 2: and then you've got to travel to Seattle, play on
11:05
Speaker 2: the road, try and win that series, and then eventually
11:07
Speaker 2: end up on the road again, it kind of piles
11:09
Speaker 2: up a little bit. But I think these two teams
11:12
Speaker 2: are probably just trying to find their way into the
11:13
Speaker 2: playoffs and worry about the home field advantage later.
11:17
Speaker 3: What do you believe in the hypothetical that Escoc Paradis
11:22
Speaker 3: does return, Because if he's hitting and saying there's a
11:27
Speaker 3: chance he could play, he could DH at the end
11:30
Speaker 3: of this week Saturday Sunday, ish, he's got a DH
11:35
Speaker 3: at a slower level. Then you got to put your
11:38
Speaker 3: don and left and put out two bight back at second,
11:40
Speaker 3: which even trying to not do.
11:44
Speaker 2: Though. That's one of the craziest things because when Esac
11:48
Speaker 2: went on the injured list, everybody kind of dropped their
11:50
Speaker 2: shoulders a little bit and said, man, believe it or not,
11:53
Speaker 2: they felt like they lost one of their best hitters
11:54
Speaker 2: in the lineup. And there were plenty of game where
11:57
Speaker 2: Esoc Paradis was in the lineup, a pitcher was getting
12:00
Speaker 2: knocked out of the game and the fourth or fifth
12:01
Speaker 2: inning with one hundred pitches and you look at the
12:03
Speaker 2: line and Esock had seen literally a third of the
12:06
Speaker 2: pitches for the team. And that's what he kind of
12:09
Speaker 2: brings to this ball club, is that patience, the zone
12:13
Speaker 2: control everything that you know, these modern day hitting coaches
12:15
Speaker 2: like to hear he could pop a couple into left
12:18
Speaker 2: field through the Crawford box. I think he's perfected that
12:21
Speaker 2: that ninety eight mile an hour swing with the you know,
12:24
Speaker 2: the perfect launch angle to get at three hundred and
12:26
Speaker 2: seventy feet into the Crawford boxes. But his ability to
12:29
Speaker 2: lengthen out at bats protects guys like Altuve who can
12:32
Speaker 2: go out there and swing at the first pitch and
12:33
Speaker 2: you don't panic because Esoch just saw nine pitches. It
12:37
Speaker 2: allows Jeremy Paine, you to lead off a game and
12:39
Speaker 2: swing at the first fastball he sees because he wants
12:41
Speaker 2: to be aggressive on the heater early because you know
12:44
Speaker 2: it behind him, you're going to see Esock seeing nine pitches.
12:47
Speaker 2: So it kind of lengthen lengthens out the lineup in
12:49
Speaker 2: that sense. So he's a nice addition to lineup. But
12:51
Speaker 2: you're exactly right about what it does defensively for Joe Aspota,
12:54
Speaker 2: is it forces his hand to put you know, Jordan
12:57
Speaker 2: Alvarez out in left field at home preferle with Hunter
13:02
Speaker 2: Brown or fromber Valdez on the mound because those are
13:04
Speaker 2: heavy ground ball type pitchers.
13:06
Speaker 5: Uh.
13:06
Speaker 2: But then you have to put Josel Tuva at second base,
13:10
Speaker 2: and you've got to run the risk of you know,
13:11
Speaker 2: him being out there with a heavy ground ball percentage
13:14
Speaker 2: that guy on the mound. So you're gonna have to
13:16
Speaker 2: manipulate that line up a little bit. I know that
13:18
Speaker 2: once he gets here to Dyke and Park, you know,
13:20
Speaker 2: talking to Tony Paris Chica, who's a third base coach
13:22
Speaker 2: and infield guy. He is going to be working him
13:24
Speaker 2: out at third base, he's gonna be working him out
13:26
Speaker 2: at second base, and believe or not, he's going to
13:28
Speaker 2: be working him out at first base in certain situations.
13:31
Speaker 2: So they're trying to create the versatility. But I'm with you.
13:34
Speaker 2: I mean, that was a pretty pretty heavy strain on
13:36
Speaker 2: the hamstring, and it's a lot to ask him to
13:37
Speaker 2: go play defense.
13:39
Speaker 3: He's like the Max Muntcy of the Astros. Max comes back,
13:43
Speaker 3: they start hitting, you get That's that's a big, big piece.
13:45
Speaker 3: All right, last question for me, and I'm going to
13:47
Speaker 3: give you two options. So you can't pick the third
13:51
Speaker 3: better chance of the Astros missing the playoffs or winning
13:54
Speaker 3: the division?
13:56
Speaker 2: Oh man, you had to go top to bottom, didn't
13:58
Speaker 2: you saying that they can win it? Just this American
14:02
Speaker 2: League West? For me, having watched it all season long,
14:07
Speaker 2: does it's it's not that good. I don't think it's
14:11
Speaker 2: the best division in baseball. I don't think it's the
14:13
Speaker 2: best division in the American League. I still think it's
14:16
Speaker 2: up there for the taking. I'm a little concerned about
14:19
Speaker 2: the Seattle Mariners pitching on the road. Their numbers haven't
14:23
Speaker 2: been very good, especially in that last road trip where
14:25
Speaker 2: the Astros kind of tried to create a little separation.
14:28
Speaker 2: But I think that there's there's more likely a chance
14:31
Speaker 2: the Astros actually pull it off in and sneak in
14:34
Speaker 2: as the division winner.
14:36
Speaker 1: I'd be shocked if the Houston Astros missed the postseason.
14:39
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that just doesn't happen. Let me ask you, that.
14:42
Speaker 2: Would cause heart palpitations. To be honest with you, I'm
14:44
Speaker 2: with you. That wouldycheck. I'm getting a paycheck from him,
14:49
Speaker 2: and I've got a cheer for him. But yeah, it
14:50
Speaker 2: would cause some serious palpitations.
14:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, and that would just send
14:54
Speaker 1: shockwaves throughout the baseball landscape. Let me ask you one
14:57
Speaker 1: quick question again, Blummer, about Josh Hater when he's not
15:00
Speaker 1: on your team. He's the guy that seems like he's
15:01
Speaker 1: easy to hate, but I don't think we give him
15:03
Speaker 1: enough love with what he does in the community. The
15:06
Speaker 1: Roberto Clemente Award nominee, I don't know that there's an
15:09
Speaker 1: award in baseball that is more of an honor to
15:12
Speaker 1: get than the Roberto Clemente Award. He is the Houston
15:15
Speaker 1: Astros nominee. Tell me what he does in the community,
15:17
Speaker 1: what he means to this club.
15:20
Speaker 2: I think it's great that these guys actually get recognized,
15:23
Speaker 2: especially around the league, because you know, we follow our
15:25
Speaker 2: team specifically and we have an idea of what's going on.
15:28
Speaker 2: But for them to get recognized nationally through Major League
15:30
Speaker 2: Baseball with this great award in honor for Roberto Clementia
15:33
Speaker 2: and all of the charity and efforts that he put
15:35
Speaker 2: into it, I think it's great that these guys get
15:37
Speaker 2: the notoriety and Josh Hater, you know, it's I didn't
15:41
Speaker 2: find out what he was doing in San Diego and
15:43
Speaker 2: some of the other teams he was with until he
15:45
Speaker 2: became an Astro and started doing it in the community
15:47
Speaker 2: here with the with the Astros, he's got a great
15:50
Speaker 2: firm foundation on with his feet on the ground in
15:54
Speaker 2: the community. And I think as soon as he signed
15:57
Speaker 2: that contract, he started a foundation here has been working
16:01
Speaker 2: with I believe it's Covenant House, doing a great job
16:04
Speaker 2: helping out families and underprivileged kids. And you know, uh,
16:09
Speaker 2: some of the some of the abuse that goes on
16:11
Speaker 2: in some of these families, and he's protecting these kids.
16:13
Speaker 2: He's protecting these families he has done phenomenal work. And
16:16
Speaker 2: throughout the course of the season when he was playing,
16:18
Speaker 2: he was having you know, galas wine dinners. He was
16:21
Speaker 2: recruiting people and funding and doing a lot of things
16:25
Speaker 2: behind the scenes. And now since he's been on the
16:27
Speaker 2: injured list, it he hasn't hesitated a bit. He's actually
16:29
Speaker 2: probably continued to work a little bit harder behind the scenes.
16:32
Speaker 2: But he's a phenomenal dude. If you get a chance
16:34
Speaker 2: to know Josh Hater, get a chance to know him
16:36
Speaker 2: because he assaulted the Earth and he's got an electric
16:38
Speaker 2: left arm.
16:40
Speaker 4: Wellummer, before you go, There's two things I gotta say.
16:42
Speaker 5: One, the Astros will make the playoffs because we Fox
16:45
Speaker 5: has the American League and there would not be a
16:47
Speaker 5: playoffs without me doing. The Astros in the DS. So
16:50
Speaker 5: I will be in Houston one way or the other.
16:52
Speaker 5: They'll be in the They'll be in the Alds. Just
16:55
Speaker 5: it's just how it works. It's like it's inevitable. It's
16:57
Speaker 5: like one of those things that just happened. Even in
17:00
Speaker 5: the one year during COVID the Braves and the Marlin's
17:03
Speaker 5: played in Houston.
17:04
Speaker 4: I'm like, we have the National League.
17:05
Speaker 5: I'm still going to Houston. So I'll be in Houston.
17:08
Speaker 5: Don't worry, They'll be there. Maybe you'll come say hi.
17:10
Speaker 5: Probably not, because you never come around when the Astros
17:13
Speaker 5: are in town.
17:14
Speaker 4: I get at your time off. But before I'll let
17:16
Speaker 4: you go, I got you. I know.
17:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know you have the h Town sure, and
17:20
Speaker 5: you're paid by the Astros. But is there even like
17:22
Speaker 5: a little bit of love for the White Sox in
17:24
Speaker 5: your heart? I mean, it is the one team you
17:26
Speaker 5: did win with, and you did hit a big home
17:29
Speaker 5: run against the Astros in minute made the one swing
17:33
Speaker 5: you got was that one home run?
17:36
Speaker 2: Dude, you know as well as I do. Did I
17:38
Speaker 2: have a certain loyalty, and granted it, it may have
17:41
Speaker 2: a little bit to do with the paycheck. I spent
17:43
Speaker 2: a majority of my career with the Houston Astros, and
17:46
Speaker 2: what a lot of Astro fans don't know is that
17:48
Speaker 2: that home run with the White Sox was payback for
17:50
Speaker 2: trading me to Tampa Bay and maybe you put up
17:53
Speaker 2: the Blue Panela for a full season. So that that
17:57
Speaker 2: being said, yes, I cheer for the Astros and I'm
18:03
Speaker 2: glad they're on this run that they're on, But there
18:05
Speaker 2: will never, ever, there will be nothing that is able
18:09
Speaker 2: to pull that chunk of my White Sox heart out
18:11
Speaker 2: of me. Because of the time that we spent together
18:14
Speaker 2: and the time that we actually put that team together,
18:17
Speaker 2: which was a special time. Winning that World Series will
18:20
Speaker 2: never leave me. I mean, if we were able to
18:22
Speaker 2: zoom in on some of this stuff behind me. I forced,
18:24
Speaker 2: you know, I forced White Sox paraphernalia into this. My
18:27
Speaker 2: daughters still have their jerseys. So there is a very
18:30
Speaker 2: special place in my heart. It's just unfortunate that I
18:32
Speaker 2: can't let it out as often as maybe as I
18:34
Speaker 2: want to. But there's two questions I get having worked
18:39
Speaker 2: for the Astros now having done that to them in
18:42
Speaker 2: that five World Series is like, how did you endear
18:44
Speaker 2: yourself to the fans? And I say, it's a lot
18:47
Speaker 2: of work, and obviously the Astros winning changes things. The
18:50
Speaker 2: other one is what kind of guy is AJ.
18:52
Speaker 5: Like, that's fine, that's fine, but do you remember if
18:59
Speaker 5: you have any re memory of what you said after
19:01
Speaker 5: you hit the home run? Do you have any do
19:02
Speaker 5: you remember this? I've never really asked you this. Do
19:05
Speaker 5: you remember what you said to me? Because remember in
19:07
Speaker 5: Houston they always played the Bees and you were a
19:09
Speaker 5: killer bee for a while. Do you remember what you
19:11
Speaker 5: said to me after you hit the home run? You
19:13
Speaker 5: probably don't because you were so excited.
19:15
Speaker 2: I was so excited. But I have a feeling it
19:17
Speaker 2: has something to do with the spread, because I was
19:19
Speaker 2: starving by the end of it.
19:21
Speaker 5: No, you actually said, can they stop playing that buzzing
19:23
Speaker 5: sound now because a killer Bee just stung them?
19:25
Speaker 4: Or it was something like that, and I was like, oh.
19:28
Speaker 5: I was like yes, because all they did during between
19:30
Speaker 5: every bat when bagwell beez oh blum came up.
19:33
Speaker 4: It was BZ.
19:36
Speaker 2: I was like, do you remember what you did to
19:39
Speaker 2: my locker the day we showed up? So we get it.
19:41
Speaker 2: We get in there for the workout, and I don't
19:42
Speaker 2: know how you found it, but they had these uh placards,
19:45
Speaker 2: like they had these big they were not big posters,
19:48
Speaker 2: but they were post almost poster sized, and they had
19:50
Speaker 2: the Killer Bees World series zero five and all this,
19:53
Speaker 2: and you you plastered my locker with them.
19:57
Speaker 5: You were a killer be We didn't know what side
19:59
Speaker 5: you were on until you took that you were on.
20:03
Speaker 4: We were debating.
20:04
Speaker 5: We had a long talk with Ozzie about whether you
20:06
Speaker 5: should have been on the roster.
20:07
Speaker 4: Kenny and Ozzy and Ill.
20:09
Speaker 5: We had a long talking like you know, where's where's
20:11
Speaker 5: his loyalties at?
20:14
Speaker 2: I think we found out.
20:15
Speaker 4: Yes we did. Thank you, thank you, Thank god I
20:18
Speaker 4: was on your side.
20:19
Speaker 1: I love the conversations and that's why we love having
20:22
Speaker 1: former players on it too. The Killer Bees bagwell Bigio Berkman, Blummer,
20:26
Speaker 1: there you have it, those are the Killer Bees.
20:29
Speaker 4: We appreciate you.
20:30
Speaker 5: We appreciate you.
20:31
Speaker 1: Blummer, good luck. You can follow Jeff, of course everything
20:33
Speaker 1: all astros going on on X if you will. What
20:37
Speaker 1: are you, Blummer? You're at Blummer forty Wait, hang on,
20:40
Speaker 1: let me find it. Blumber twenty seven, at Blumber twenty seven.
20:44
Speaker 1: All right, Jeff, good luck to the askers. There's no
20:46
Speaker 1: way they're not making the postseason. We appreciate you, my friend.
20:49
Speaker 1: Thanks thanks for being with us on Foult Territory coming
20:52
Speaker 1: up next, much more better than box scores.
20:54
Speaker 4: We'll be right back