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Charles Barkley
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Seth Payne
Wayfair Every Style, Every Home
Lowe's Announcer
Messy Fans Lowe's Messy halftime event hits July 19th that's coming up fast. So now's a really good time to become a Mylo's Rewards or a My Lo's Pro Rewards member. Join for free and get access to exclusive messy moments and epic surprises. Let's just say halftime's looking different this year. Make sure to follow Lowes on TikTok and tune in to the Lowes Messy halftime event on July 19th. Members get more at Lowe's Loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. Visit lowe's.com terms for details.
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Seth Payne
Let's go.
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Charles Barkley
We coming to eighth time they get the work in man. Let's go.
Seth Payne
Great day. Great day. Oh give me some juice. Oh yeah. Let's do it.
Game Commentator
Got him. Ball game over. Astros hold on to win it six to three as they take the middle game of this three game series against the Nationals and get back to within two games of.500. Didn't come easy against this Nationals offense. Plumber, but that's a nice win on the road.
Historian/Narrator
It is a nice win on the road. Yeah. This offense has the potential to come back. It took a little extra effort out of that bullpen to finish this thing off, but what a beautiful thing to be able to have the bottom part of your order do all of that damage.
Luke Morrow
That's right. Astros get the win last night 6:3 to even that series with the Nationals. Happy Wednesday Especially after that Astros victory. Payne and Pendergast. I'm Luke Morrow, in for Sean alongside Seth Payne. Seth, how we doing?
Seth Payne
I'm good. You know, every morning I eagerly check the standings to be sure if a sub.500 record has an ex. Hasn't actually vaulted the Astros up into the division. There's still two games back from the Mariners, and the Rangers are half game back from the Mariners. So this I'm happy about last night. Also happy to see that the Yankees struck out 17 times for the second straight day in a row.
Luke Morrow
Yeah.
Seth Payne
So I'm almost. I'm actually more invested in the Yankees falling than I am right now with the Astros in the AL West. Is that bad?
Lowe's Announcer
No.
Seth Payne
Is that me being too focused on negativity?
Luke Morrow
No, I'm with you. Look, I grew up in Connecticut. We grew up a family of Red Sox fans. And so there's been years, especially recently, where. Yeah. Like your. Your championship is just making sure the Yankees don't have success because you're having a down year. So I'm yours. You're. You're preaching to the choir right now. We watch growing up as many Yankee games as Red Sox games just to simply root against them. So I'm all for it.
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bastards. I think the. Okay, so when you and I talked, we were very down on Burroughs, and Burroughs himself is now down in the minors. Yes. And we were just saying, okay, but Imai, there's. There's hope the. That. That Imai might be the one. And how are you feeling after last night?
Luke Morrow
Maybe the same. I mean, a little bit better. Like, he didn't pitch terribly. Obviously he gave you a chance to win, but still. And I don't know what the analogy would be like, you still couldn't get to the fifth inning. They're paying you, what, 18 million a year. You're coming off a start where Burrows had to tax the bullpen a little bit. It'd be nice if you could count on him a little more. And too often we get these starts where he's just like, not. He's not giving you the length or the innings. So. Yeah, I mean, he. His final line last night was two earned runs, four hits, three walks, three strikeouts. That sounds fine until you zoom out. You're like, oh, it was only 312 3rd innings. It's almost like an opener, and you've
Seth Payne
got to burn through all these relievers. I mean, so Oakr De los Santos, Brian King, Brian Abreu, Alan Bear, Santa, and Josh Hader all pitched last night. And all of them use the. All of them use the bullpen cart. Except for Hayter. Okert started. Oakert started the trend of using the bullpen cart. And because the Nationals are one of those teams that have one, and every single reliever after him used the bullpen card as well, which is, I mean, the IR that is. And they deserve it. If they're going to be used that heavily every time somebody like Imai comes in, then by all means save your legs.
Luke Morrow
I miss that tradition of the bullpen cart. That kind of ended like in the late 90s, I think it was. And it would always be funny to see them, you know, drive in, especially how quickly sometimes they drive in the reliever. And then back in the day, like when you go back to the 70s or 80s, whenever it was where they had the cart that was an actual baseball that they sit in, or at least one of the teams had that. I'd be pretty embarrassed if I'm coming in to like close out a one run game in the ninth inning and I have to sit into this mini baseball to get driven out to the mound.
Seth Payne
But there's only. I think there's only four teams, give or take, that do a doable pen cart. And then a lot of guys just don't. Most guys don't use it because it's either out of the routine or they just think it's soft.
MLB The Show Announcer
Right.
Seth Payne
I think that was a veteran move by Okert to. It's not the first time he's done it, but I applaud him as a. In a throwback to old school baseball, old time baseball, when people were softer.
Luke Morrow
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And he's been pitching well, so he deserves it. I like Santa, but it's tough where you can't get through the ninth inning and it forces Josh Hader to have to come in just to get that final out. And granted, Hayter wasn't entirely sharp either and has to leave the tying run on base in the bottom of the night. Yeah, made that game a little sweatier than you had to at the end. And then also at Josh Hader, I mean, you know, you don't love to use him on back to back days and multiple innings and whatnot. They try to be careful with him. So to have to burn him in that game, so to speak, when you were up six to two heading into the ninth, that was the one. If I'm nitpicking because the bullpen was good again, but if I'm nitpicking having to Run hater out there too, along with all those other arms you mentioned that wasn't ideal in what was a nice 6 to 3 win on the road.
Seth Payne
Yeah. And I think seeing some life out of the back end of the lineup in the last couple nights has been big for sure. And Price Matthews, Bryce Matthews is really just. Maybe he's turned a corner or something. We'll wait and see. But they've, they, they've got to do. I mean Dana Brown's been talking very openly about trying to get a left field left handed outfielder out there and I just. The. We'll hold our breath, I suppose.
Luke Morrow
Yeah. Which gives me another chance to bring up what I think is one of the worst moves the Astros have made in the past decade. And I bring this up all the time because it still irks me a bit for the Astros. But when they traded will your Abreu for half a season of Christian Vasquez a few years back and Vasquez posted I think a negative war that year with the Astros. And now Abreu is a multi time Gold Glove winner in Boston. Left handed hitting outfielder. Be nice to have that guy hits 20 homer, 20 plus homers a year. But I digress. Hey, you mentioned Bryce Matthews and you know, turning a corner, maybe it's just simply a road trip. The, the fact that they're on the road. This became a talking point yesterday, his splits.
Seth Payne
Yeah.
Luke Morrow
And it actually came up on in the Loop and then the fellas on the drive also brought it up how Bryce Matthews on the road has pretty good numbers. 265 average, five homers. His OPS is like almost 800 on the road. Those are good numbers. You'd sign up for that. But at home he's hitting just over a hundred and his OPS is like 300. He has two runs batted in at home and nearly 100 at bats. It's such a big discrepancy and the guys were wondering why yesterday on the radio. And I said at least on social media, you know, when I worked in baseball, teams didn't like. And Seth, I'm sure you can speak to this as a professional athlete yourself, but you know, teams didn't like when guys would go play in their hometowns because of all the distractions. And this is like, it's, it's always a distraction. He's living and playing constantly in his hometown. This isn't just a road trip to the city he grew up in. Bryce Matthews obviously grew up here. This is his hometown still for his baseball career. And you worry about you know, between having to get all the tickets and the family friends are intent in attendance, you have a big crowd every night. So now you're pressing and the pressure and, you know, and then you go out to lunch or dinner with your aunts and uncles and high school friends and family and all this, just all the distractions. You know, I know when I was. Like I said, when I was in baseball, teams didn't love it. And for Bryce Matthews, I mean, that's now half his season.
Seth Payne
Yeah. I guess the thing is, though, when you're traveling and you're on the road, it's such a big disruption to your routine where, if you. If you live and play in your hometown and, you know, he went to Atascocita, that you should be able to get into some kind of routine where it's not necessarily as big a deal. And I, like. I. Yeah. I don't know. We'd have to. We'd have to ask Clyde Drexler if it was ever. Was it ever a distraction having so many family and friends around. You know, James Harden going to LA every now and then. Was that was always a concern? Because was he gonna just. Was he. Was he out enjoying too many of the spoils of his hometown? I don't know.
MLB The Show Announcer
I would.
Seth Payne
I'd be hard pressed to. I'd be hard to press to blame that on Bryce Matthews right now or that being the reason. I just. When they were talking about on the broadcast last night, the first thing I thought of was the 2023 Astros, who remember where they were. I think there were 51 and 30 on the road in 2023, but they were just about.500 at home. And it's. It was just one of those. One of those flukish things that probably didn't really. It might have been just random chance or circumstance. You try like hell to dig for a reason for it, but I'm not.
Lowe's Announcer
I can't.
Seth Payne
I can't buy it as an excuse right now because it's. There's just too many other guys that have been able to perform at home.
Luke Morrow
Yeah. And you. You. You brought them up earlier of Clyde Drexler, as you mentioned, but Nolan Ryan, Roger Clements, Andy Pettit, so, you know, there are a lot of examples.
Seth Payne
Yeah, Nolan and Pettit would be both guys that were already pros when they came back to play in Houston. So then it's. You've already got more of it nailed in the young athlete like Jalen Petrie. Jalen Petrie had an up and down first Couple of years and, and now he's figured it out. JALEN Petrie. It's worked out very well for. But I guess football, you know, football is not as much of a. You're more insulated around the games than you are when you're in baseball.
Luke Morrow
Yeah, well, you know, Boomer Sison always said, obviously he's from Long Island. He went to the jets later in his career in the 90s and he has said since now look, those jets teams are not good. I believe that was like rich, the Rich Kotite years. And Boomer has since said that he regrets that he wishes he didn't play for the jets and he encourages NFL players to not go back to their hometowns because as, as I was laying out before, like the distractions having to get a suite for the family for every games and then for Boomer specifically because those teams weren't very good. He said family members always bring up the bad news like, hey, I saw what they wrote about you on the front page. And he's like, hey, I'm trying to, I'm trying to ignore that. Stop telling me all the terrible things people are saying about me.
Seth Payne
The worst is when somebody tries to let you know that they're in your corner. Like, hey, hey, I was on, I was online battling for you yesterday when this guy said this and that guy said that and then this guy said this. Yeah, you don't need guys. I, I think though again back in the day that if you were geographically removed from a situation, you just didn't see a whole lot of it where now it doesn't matter because your sister's texting you, forwarding you an article or something from the local paper. This is why, you know, why, you know, I'm hesitant to really buy into this as a potential theory because what's the solution? You know, like, oh, okay, oh, oh. All we need to do is go back in time and make Bryce Matthews not from here and then it'll be all just fine. So I don't know, unless people in a Taskita can perhaps weigh in on is Bryce Matthews having to entertain too many people all the time. Are you over at Bryce Matthews parents house? Just a steady entourage. Steady. A steady procession of third cousins walking through with their hands out asking for tickets.
Luke Morrow
I think the, the, the way to solve it just go on the road, keep them on the Road is a 10 game road trips only.
Seth Payne
Only play him on the road.
Luke Morrow
Yeah, apparently his numbers are, are almost three times as good on the road.
Seth Payne
You don't hear about the LED lights as much anymore. Except that's. I mean, I feel like that that's still a factor for some people just adjusting to the lighting it dyke and park.
Luke Morrow
Yeah. And I know like, there's been complaints in the past about the batter's eye in center field being an issue, so maybe that's for somebody like Bryce Matthews. Maybe that's more of a problem. I don't know. It is odd. It is odd to have such polar opposites where he's batting a.100 at home, but on the road he, like I said, his ops is nearly.800. That's really good.
Seth Payne
Maybe it's in the Taskita High School thing. You know Kenyon Green, Kenyan Green didn't make it in Houston either, after he's a teammate of Bryce Matthews, if I recall correctly. I might be mixing up my athletes here, but Kenyon, it wasn't as much of a home or away issue. It was just staying healthy and playing football in general.
Luke Morrow
Yeah, it was an anywhere anywhere issue.
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Kelly Clarkson
Hey y', all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't fit?
Luke Morrow
Little to the left? No, wait.
Kelly Clarkson
Yep, should have gone with Wayfair. Or what if it doesn't hold up?
Luke Morrow
That sofa was four days old.
Kelly Clarkson
Should have ordered from Wayfair. Or what if it it's that material that makes that noise.
Luke Morrow
It was a sofa.
Alltrails Announcer
I swear.
Kelly Clarkson
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Seth Payne
Wayfair Every Style, Every Home
Lowe's Announcer
Messy Fans Lowe's Messy halftime event hits July 19th. That's coming up fast, so now's a really good time to become a Milo's Rewards or Milo's Pro Rewards member. Join for free and get access to exclusive messy moments and epic surprises. Let's just say halftime's looking different this year. Make sure to follow Lowe's on TikTok and tune in to the Lowe's Messi halftime event on July 19th. Members get more at Lowe's loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. Visit lowe's.com terms for details subject to change.
Luke Morrow
So, anyways, Astros get the win last night. And if you're an Astros fan, you might have felt like it was two wins because Mike Burrows gets sent down to Triple A. Like Seth had mentioned before, the game starts. So you get the Burrows demotion. You get the IME start last night where the Astros win the game and IME doesn't get knocked around too bad. And then you also had Lance McCullers and Blanco make what's supposed to be their final rehab appearances last night for Sugar Land. Are we feeling better 24 hours later? Do we feel better about this Astros starting rotation as a whole, or is it still, you know, was that just breadcrumbs here?
Historian/Narrator
The last.
Seth Payne
Yeah. I don't. Yeah. When it comes to when we talked about it yesterday. All right. We know what the. We know that seal. We know that Imai has a whole bunch of potential, but he's just got a I. He's got to start going deeper into games more consistently, and he's had some good performances. I think the biggest, the biggest, hopefully positive sign from last night was that he had James Wood take him deep very early, and it didn't spiral out of control for him there that he had to work his way through some difficulty. It looked at one point there like they were performing open hand surgery on him on the mound, was in the first or second inning, he was bleeding profusely from his pitching hand. And you're. And you're thinking, oh, that's. That's it. This is it for him. But it was just his fingernail and slice a little gash on his ring finger. And it didn't end up being a huge deal, but it's like it ended up being yet another atypical thing that we're talking about with Bimi. After a game, there's always, it's almost like every single week or every single bad performance, there's a different explanation for it. And this one at least is more visible. And he fought through it, so there's that. And you give him credit for that, but he's just. They can't keep using six relievers every time that. Every time that Imai's in the game.
Luke Morrow
Yeah. What are you paying 18 million for? He can't even get through the fourth inning.
Seth Payne
Well, you talked about. Yeah. Potentially trading away blue ball or somebody like that. And I mean, you need guys like blue ball who, who can give you some middle relief. If you've got guys like Imai as your Starting pitchers.
Luke Morrow
Yeah. So I think that's why they do love or loved Mike Burroughs, where they would always compliment, like, he's an innings eater. Because the very next day, it's like, well, we're going to need our bullpen tomorrow for e mail. So at least Burrows saves us for having to use too many relievers.
Seth Payne
If you're. If your goal is to lose as many baseball games as possible, well, preserving your bullpen, he's a hell of a guy for that. He's one of the best all time, giving you bad outings, but just being willing to stay out there and muddle through his bad outings.
Luke Morrow
And I don't want to be, I don't know, pessimistic here to start the morning. But like Burrows next turn the rotation, he gets sent down to Triple A. So his next turn in the rotation would be Sunday, the final game before the All Star break. The Astros can find a way to fill that spot. You could just plug in Christian Javier for a spot start if you like, or blue ball or do a bullpen game, because you're gonna have almost a week off after that. And then because of the break of the All Star game, you can then start your rotation again. You wouldn't need Burrows spot in the rotation until it would be July 21st. So essentially two weeks from now. My point being, in all of this, we saw the Astros already try to demote Burroughs out of the starting rotation just to put them right back in. I am curious if on July 21, which would be the next time you would need that Burrows start, if he actually is back up in the big leagues, and this is just an opportunity to, hey, let's send them down to Triple A for two weeks, try to freshen up some things. And in the meantime, we can use an extra bullpen arm for those two weeks because we don't need the burrow starting spot. I'm curious how long lasting this demotion will be, if this is it until Burroughs really turns a corner down to the minors, or if this is more like a strategic type of play while also allowing Burroughs to take a breather in Triple A for the next two weeks.
Seth Payne
Yeah, I think they've got to figure out ways to, you know, sending them to the bullpen for that one game. All right. Did he figure anything out? It doesn't appear so, but it also, you know, I think it was in Chandler Rome's article. It paints a picture of, man, the, you know, between his arm slotting and some of the other things that he's tweaking in his delivery. It sounds like he's. It sounds like he's a mess. Like he's just. Whenever you hear about a pitcher working on multiple things at the same time, it just feels like you're grasping for straws there. And if you can't just dial in on one thing, fix it. So I. This flux that you're going to have as McCullers and Blanco and Wisneski start to come into the fold, you're. You're going to be burning up some minor league options along the way. As long as you're just so unsettled. But you have so many numbers. It's at potential starting pitchers.
Luke Morrow
Yeah. McCullers and Blanco with those final rehab appearances, I believe supposed to be final last night. So we'll see if one of those guys gets plugged in for Sunday's game before the All Star break. And then Jeremy Pena began his rehab assignment last night. They hope he returns this weekend for the Rangers series. That's quite the night to go to Sugar Land last night where, you know, probably ten $15 tickets and you could see three Astros in that game last night. Not bad. But the Astros get the win last night. 6 3. They'll try to win the series now tonight against the Nationals. 5:45. First pitch here, Central Time so good that they got back in the win column, but still two games under.500. What? Two games out of the division? Still, Baseball talk On Sports Radio. 610 is presented by Xfinity. Score, the most reliable Wi Fi 1 price. 5 years guaranteed. Xfinity. Imagine that. By the way, Seth, I stayed up later than I wanted to last night. Obviously got to get to bed early to get up early these days filling in for Sean while he's on vacation. There was a thunderstorm and I had to shower before bed. And I've. You know, I was always told you can't shower during a thunderstorm, a lightning storm, because you could get electrocuted from the lightning. You ever. You ever. Was that ever a wife's tale in your life? Do you follow that at all?
Seth Payne
I think it's. If you've got copper pipes, that's when you. I don't know, places don't have copper pipes anymore. So I might be completely wrong on that. Nobody listening right now. Take my advice and, like, just start brazenly showering during a thunderstorm. Especially because there's a good chance that there's zero percent truth to what I just said.
Luke Morrow
I.
Seth Payne
Wait, that's why. But that's all yeah, if you've got copper pipes and, like, right up from the. From the outside, right up to your shower, I think that's where it's an issue.
Luke Morrow
So you'll shower during a. During a thunder and lightning storm?
Seth Payne
Oh, I'll shower, yeah. Any damn time I please. I'll shower in an open field during a thunderstorm. I'm not. I await the superpowers that will come to me if I ever do get stuck by lightning. There's another thing, as I understand it. That's what happens.
Luke Morrow
You're. You're a daredevil.
Charles Barkley
Yeah.
Luke Morrow
I waited like, an extra hour. I gotta get to bed. Well, this lightning end already so I could hop in the shower.
Lowe's Announcer
Geez.
Seth Payne
I know you're not supposed to stand extra. I've always. That's one of those things kind of like with cpr, you know? Like, I got CPR certified however many decades ago, and if it. If it came up right this moment, I'd be screwed. Everything would blank out. Other than just. I might be able to do the chest massage or whatever. But likewise for lightning storms, you're not supposed to stand near a big tree, but you're also not supposed to stand in an open field. And I don't know, if you're stuck out in nature, I don't know exactly what you're supposed to do other than, like, try to get to the woods, but not near any big trees, but not in an open field in the. In a clearing in the woods. You just gotta have your head on a swivel the entire time.
Charles Barkley
That's true.
Luke Morrow
Yeah.
Kelly Clarkson
We were.
Luke Morrow
We were always told the car is the safest place. Get inside a car. You can join the conversation. 713-572-4610. Or in the YouTube and Twitch chats, do you shower during lightning storms? Are you as crazy as Seth is?
Seth Payne
CDC is saying, don't. Don't. It's not safe to shower during a thunderstorm.
Charles Barkley
Yeah.
Luke Morrow
I spared my life last night.
Seth Payne
Yeah. Don't bathe or do the dishes during a storm.
Luke Morrow
Oh, wow. I didn't know about the dishes. I gotta add that to the list. I'm already neurotic enough. Now I can't even do the dishes when it's raining outside.
Seth Payne
Glad we figured that out. I almost killed somebody just now.
Luke Morrow
That's gonna be my excuse. Honey, sorry, I can't do the dishes. I think there's some rain coming in.
Seth Payne
Yeah, yeah, sorry.
Luke Morrow
Can't help you out.
Seth Payne
That's one of the benefits of living in Houston.
Luke Morrow
That's right.
Seth Payne
Large swaths of time where you just simply can't do the dishes.
Luke Morrow
Yeah, exactly. Hey, coming up, Texans defense getting a lot of love from those around the league. Of course, we'll talk about it next. It's Payne and Pendergast.
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Messi fans. Lowe's Messy halftime event hits July 19th. That's coming up fast. So now's a really good time to become a Milos Rewards or a Milos Pro Rewards member. Join for free and get access to exclusive messy moments and epic surprises. Let's just say halftime's looking different this year. Make sure to follow Lowe's on TikTok and tune in to the Lowe's Messy halftime event on July 19. Members get more at Lowe's Loyalty programs subject to terms and conditions. Visit lowe's.com terms for details.
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Would
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Payne & Pendergast: "Astros Get a 6-3 Win + We Feeling Any Better About Their Pitching Rotation?" Podcast Date: July 8, 2026 | Hosts: Seth Payne & (Guest Host) Luke Morrow
In this episode of Houston’s go-to sports talk show, Seth Payne is joined by Luke Morrow (filling in for Sean Pendergast) to dissect the Astros’ 6-3 victory over the Nationals. The pair break down the win, the ongoing concerns and bright spots in the Astros' pitching rotation, and offer thoughts on homegrown talent struggles. The conversation blends insightful baseball analysis with trademark humor and candid banter, making the episode accessible and engaging for both diehards and casual fans of H-Town sports.
Burrows Demotion & Future Rotation (07:52, 15:28–20:11):
Strategic Use of Triple-A & Rest (18:04–19:18):
Imai’s Profile & Lasting Issues (16:03–17:17):
Past Trade Regrets (07:10):
Joking Solutions
Other Potential Factors
On Overusing the Bullpen:
“They can't keep using six relievers every time that Imai’s in the game.” —Seth Payne (17:17)
On Imai’s Value:
“What are you paying $18 million for? He can't even get through the fourth inning.” —Luke Morrow (17:17)
On the Hader Dilemma:
“If I'm nitpicking...having to run Hader out there...wasn’t ideal in what was a nice 6-3 win.” —Luke Morrow (06:26)
On the Outlier Trade (Abreu):
"One of the worst moves the Astros have made in the past decade...now Abreu is a multi-time Gold Glove winner in Boston. Left-handed hitting outfielder. Be nice to have that guy." —Luke Morrow (07:10)
On Home vs. Away for Hometown Players:
“You try like hell to dig for a reason for it, but...I can't buy it as an excuse right now because it's...there’s just too many other guys that have been able to perform at home.” —Seth Payne (10:31)
For The Listener:
If you’re seeking an honest, sharp perspective on the Astros’ ongoing saga—with local flavor and a sense of humor—you’ll get a thorough, fan-friendly breakdown in this episode. The banter between Seth and Luke, combined with their detailed scrutiny of pitching woes and player hot/cold streaks, keeps the baseball conversation lively and informative.