Astros sweep the Marlins , 2 games out of first place

Summary

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Payne & Pendergast Podcast Summary

Episode: Astros Sweep the Marlins; 2 Games Out of First Place

Date: July 23, 2026
Hosts: Brandon Scott (in for Seth Payne), Seth Payne, Sean Pendergast
Main Theme: The Astros' momentum after a three-game sweep of the Marlins revives their playoff hopes, igniting debate over the direction Houston should take at the trade deadline: buyer or seller?

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Episode Overview

The hosts dive into the Houston Astros' impressive rebound, analyzing how a pivotal sweep of the Marlins propelled them back into playoff contention—just two games out of first place in the AL West and three-and-a-half back of the wild card. The conversation explores the tension between short-term competitiveness and long-term planning, with particular focus on unsung pitching hero Peter Lambert’s breakout, the trade deadline conundrum, and the stars who powered the latest victory.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Astros Momentum: From "Out" to "All In"

• Astros defeat Marlins 5–2, clinching a three-game sweep after losing three straight post-All Star break.
• The hosts recount how, just days prior, many fans (and even the show itself) debated whether Houston should embrace a soft rebuild if postseason contention slipped away.
• Quote (Brandon Scott, 02:05):
  “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in... The Astros, they're pulling me back in.”

2. Peter Lambert: The New "Ace"

• Peter Lambert delivers again: six innings, two runs, team-best stability.
• Comparisons to Astros "pitchers who come out of nowhere" in past years (Jason Alexander, Renell Blanco, JP France, Luis Garcia).
• Quote (Seth Payne, 04:24):
  “He’s your best option… your most reliable and trustworthy, I think. Solid, quality pitcher option, right?”
• Discussion on pitching development: In previous seasons, such unexpected breakouts were a luxury. Now, the Astros rely on them for survival.

3. The Trade Deadline Dilemma: Buy or Sell?

• Front-office crossroads: Should GM Dana Brown buy to chase a playoff run, or sell to replenish a shallow farm system?
  • Many teams in the AL are “delusional” about their playoff chances due to the tight race.
  • The owner, Jim Crane, likely dictates direction; Brown must be ready for both approaches.
  • Quote (Brandon Scott, 10:42):
    “[Crane] wants to keep those promises. I think he’s competitive. I think Dana Brown’s gonna do whatever Jim Crane’s bidding is… If Jim Crane said…we’re gonna be a seller, Dana Brown would be a seller.”
  • Ongoing Jeremy Pena trade rumors reflect this uncertainty; even as Pena produces, the front office’s phone “keeps ringing.”

4. The State of the Roster: Pitching Woes and Top-Heavy Lineups

• Long-term perspective: Houston’s days of automatic contention are gone; every win now feels desperate and hard-won.
• The pitching pipeline isn’t what it once was—fans’ hope for “car wash” development of arms is fading.
• Quote (Seth Payne, 08:21): “Now this is enough…we’ve had enough consecutive years now to kind of feel the impact… Now, of course, Luis Garcia was a major contributor… but you didn’t necessarily need these guys in a way that you absolutely have needed every single one of these eight quality starts you’ve gotten from Peter Lambert.”
• Rotation uncertainty: Only Lambert and (possibly) Hunter Brown are trusted for a hypothetical playoff series; no clear third starter.

5. Home Run Highlights: Pena & Yordan Shine

• Jeremy Pena: Homers in three straight games—“spicy against the Marlins” (18:24).
• Yordan Alvarez: Delivers another go-ahead shot, furthering his MVP candidacy.
• Isaac Paredes: Follows Alvarez for back-to-back home runs to secure the win.
• Quote (Sean Pendergast, on Alvarez, 20:23): “This guy is awesome.”
• The top of the order is carrying the offense, but the lineup remains shaky at the bottom.

6. The “Lamborghini” Rotation Nickname

• Playful segment: Astros broadcasters dub the rotation as the “Lamborghini”—but some pitchers “aren’t holding up their end.”
• Hosts enjoy the light moments amid the team’s up-and-down season.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:39] – Astros sweep reaction and emotional rollercoaster of being a fan
• [03:14] – Should Astros consider trading Jeremy Pena? Debate on his value and production
• [04:19] – Peter Lambert’s emergence and Joe Espada’s praise (includes Espada soundbite: 05:35)
• [07:30] – Astros player development: past versus present, pitching pipeline concerns
• [10:26] – Trade deadline dynamics: Dana Brown’s predicament, Jim Crane’s influence
• [13:13] – Standing in the AL and difficulties for GMs leaguewide
• [14:59] – Balancing short-term aggression vs. long-term planning (“delusion vs. competition”)
• [16:32] – Rotation trust issues: Who starts in the playoffs?
• [18:24–21:16] – Home run calls: Pena’s streak, Yordan’s opposite-field blast, back-to-back jacks with Paredes
• [19:04] – “Lamborghini” nickname for the rotation adds levity
• [21:34] – Top-heavy lineup analysis

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Brandon Scott (02:05): “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
• Seth Payne on Peter Lambert (04:24): “Since quality starts is a stat, or is a thing that we keep up with these days, he is your most reliable and trustworthy, I think. Solid, quality pitcher option, right?”
• Joe Espada on Lambert (05:35):

  "Peter is kind of being that guy for us. He has stepped up and he's been our ace and he doesn't back down from a challenge. He goes after these hitters, he throws strikes. He's very competitive and he's been really, really good."

• Brandon Scott on trade deadline (10:42):

  "The direction they go... will be dictated by the owner. The execution of that direction will be done by the general manager with probably some oversight from Jim Crane. The bigger the deal, the more the oversight probably is."

• Home Run Call – Jeremy Pena (18:24–18:38):

  “Pena tries to go for three straight, first time in his career. Back to back to back game. Home run for Jeremy Pena and it's two nothing Astros.” (Sean Pendergast)

• Sean Pendergast (20:23) on Yordan Alvarez:

  “This guy is awesome.”

• Seth Payne (14:59):

  “Are we delusional or are we aggressive and competitive? And where do those words start to kind of conflate or overlap?”

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Final Thoughts

This episode delivers a well-rounded view of the Astros’ 2026 campaign at a critical juncture, combining sharp tactical breakdowns with fan-centric emotions and insider humor. The Marlins sweep has fans and the front office caught between hope and skepticism, with the trade deadline looming as Houston’s playoff odds teeter on the mound work of Peter Lambert and the bats of its top stars. The hosts blend analysis, fun, and sharp authenticity—leaving listeners with clarity about the team’s precarious position and an eagerness for what’s next.

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Next up: More on the station’s FM switch, and a countdown to Texans training camp (post-baseball segment).

Transcript

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[Brandon Scott]

Seth Payne and Sean Pendergast we coming to eighth time.

[Seth Payne]

Let's get the work in, man.

[Sean Pendergast]

Let go. Great day.

[Brandon Scott]

Great day.

[Sean Pendergast]

Oh, give me some juice, baby. Oh yeah. Let's do it. Call third strike. Ball game over. Astros win it five to two with three in the bottom half of the eighth inning. A Brady with a six save and the Astros sweep the Miami Marlins on the heels. Blumber of losing three in a row out of the All Star break. That's a hu huge turnaround series.

[Brandon Scott]

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. I should have. I should have went and got Al Pacino saying that as part. We should have put that in the open. Yeah. Cause the Astros, they're pulling me back in, man. I just remember coming in here, I remember Brandon Scott coming in here way back on Monday and saying, you know what? I think there's a big faction of Astro fans that aren't going to admit it, but they would be okay if this team actually just started to slide out of the race. So they would have a clear look at themselves and do the right thing before the trade deadline. And the Astros, to their credit, said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're hanging around in this thing, man. Two games out in the division, three and a half games out of the wild card on the heels of a three game sweep of the Miami Marlins. It was fun last night. Two to two in the eighth. And we'll play these home runs in just a minute. Jordan, the soon to be MVP with a two run shot. Issac with and they win five to two. Brandon Scott in for Seth Payne today, tomorrow and early next week as well. So it's a pleasure to see you be Scott.

[Seth Payne]

It is a pleasure to see you as well. So you're saying, what you're saying is you're old enough to remember Monday?

[Brandon Scott]

Yes, yes.

[Seth Payne]

You're old enough to remember Monday. I am old enough to remember. I don't know yesterday, before the game even started, when I was asked right here on these very airwaves if the Astros should still be considering trading Jeremy Pena, given where they are and kind of everything that that's happening right now. And all Jeremy Pena continues to do is like whenever he's out there is play at a close to all star level. Of course my answer was, yeah, they should trade him. They should think about the long term health of the franchise. But then again, there is this year and they are still in, they're still in it.

[Brandon Scott]

Two, two out of the division. This division in this American League is just going to keep a lot of teams delusional about what they actually are in terms of, It's a perfect word in terms of the ceiling, right?

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

And it's funny you bring that up about Pena and we'll, we'll listen to these home runs here in just a second. And again, we shouldn't ignore Peter Lambert was excellent again last night. He's your ace right now. He's the one guy you can count on every time out to give you five or six innings of baseball. It's not, it's not like elite like Hunter Brown last year level, but he gives you a chance to win every time he's out there.

[Seth Payne]

He's not their best pitcher, but right now he's their most quality pitcher.

[Brandon Scott]

He's your best option.

[Seth Payne]

Since quality starts is a stat or is a thing that we keep up with these days. He is your most reliable and trustworthy, I think. Solid, quality pitcher option, right?

[Brandon Scott]

Yes. So let's stick with that. We'll get to Pena and Dana Brown and the, maybe the, the difficult lens he's got to look through right now because of where the Astros are in this thing and because of the lack of assets that they have to get deals done that other teams might be able to do. Which again, plays into. You do need to look at this thing too. If you're Dana Brown as a potential seller as well. I think you're doing a disservice to the team if you're not looking at it both ways. Yeah, but we'll get to that in a second. But let's relive last night if you didn't see the game or you went to bed early. The Astros win. They're 50 and 54 on the season right now. They're two games back in the AL west, three and a half games back in the, in the AL wild card. The Red Sox on this tear that they're on has, has, has put a little daylight between them and a bunch of teams. Here was Joe Espada. So again you get six innings, two runs out of Peter Lambert last night. Here was Joe Espada. Then we'll listen to the home runs. This was Joe Espada on Peter Lambert's performance.

[Joe Espada]

No, you know, and there's always someone during the season in the years that I, I've been doing this, that there's someone, this one pitcher that gets an opportunity and, and just runs with it or last year was Jason Alexander. And Peter is kind of being that guy for us. He has stepped up and he's, he's been our ace and he doesn't back down from for a challenge. He goes after these hitters, he throws strikes. He's very competitive and he is, he's, he's been really, really good.

[Brandon Scott]

It's, I thought about that the other day. I'm like, there's one every year, man. Yeah, there's one every year that comes out of the woodwork and wins like double digit games. I don't know if Alexander eventually got to double digit wins on the season last year, but I know he had like eight to 10 starts in a row where he was doing what Peter Lambert's doing.

[Seth Payne]

He had that feeling of reliability, of dependability that Peter Lambert has. And by the way, just to, to the point that we've been making in that Joe Espada made, this is a team leading eight quality starts for Peter Lambert after last year.

[Brandon Scott]

He's He's a. He's a walking quality start right now. It was. It's Peter Lambert this year. It was. It was Jason Alexander last year. The year before that, it was Renell Blanco.

[Joe Espada]

Yes.

[Brandon Scott]

Won 13 games. I can't remember if the JP France phenomenon was in 24 or 23.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah, it feels like they were the same year.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. Yeah, it was 24. Because I remember Seth and I having a debate when J.T. francis pitching well and Hunter Brown was pitching poorly. I was kind of siding. You know, we're doing that whole thing, like, okay, which of these two guys. Blah, blah, blah. I'm like, well, I know Hunter Brown stinks right now, but he actually, like, strikes guys out. Like, you can see Hunter Brown is, like, amazing stuff and this and that. And Seth and I would debate about that a little bit. So I think it was 24. Like, even, like, because of the Tommy John surgery, it's sort of retro. Retroactively evolved this way. But, like, in hindsight, Luis Garcia wound up being a guy like that. In the year they won the World series, he won 15 games. Never did that again.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

And again, he got derailed because of injuries. I think if there was no Tommy John, Luis Garcia might still be winning 15 games for the Houston Astros.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. No, I agree.

[Brandon Scott]

But there's guys like that that have come out of the woodwork, and I guess the difference would be that when they'd come out of the woodwork before, there was the feeling that there was still this Astros car wash where you just bring. You bring a bunch of pictures in, and a few of them are going to get the job done for you, because whatever system they had to develop pictures worked.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

And now I think there's not nearly as much confidence in that system.

[Seth Payne]

Well, not only that, but it always felt like perhaps because of that system that you're talking about, it always felt like they were an added benefit. They always felt like an additive, like a. Like a supplemental type of piece as opposed to. I think now Astros fans are just now getting used to the team being a little bit subpar.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Cause we're in the second year of this fighting for your life thing, and really kind of the third because they backed their way into it in 2024. So now. Now this is enough.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. They won a playoff game since 2020, 23.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. So we've had enough consecutive years now to kind of feel the impact and feel the effect of the roster not necessarily meeting the standard that it used to set for itself. And so now you're desperate For. So whereas a couple of years ago you didn't feel as desperate for a JP France to emerge or for Renell Blanco to emerge. Now, of course, Luis Garcia was a major contributor to them when they were still winning, but you didn't necessarily need these guys in a way that you absolutely have needed every single one of these eight quality starches you've gotten from Peter Lambert. You could even say, you could even put it this way, if not for Peter Lambert, where would the Astros be?

[Sean Pendergast]

Right.

[Seth Payne]

Well, which is a weird sentence to say, a weird question to ask, but a valid again.

[Brandon Scott]

And I think there's still even with this sweep of the Marlins and thank you Texter says JP France was actually 2023. The years he won 11 games. He won 11 games. So it's, you know, so it was almost like it was France in 2020. It was Luis Garcia in 2022. In retrospect, France in 2023 gave you 11 wins. Renell Blanco gave you 13 wins in 2024. And last year, Jason Alexander gave you. I don't have his numbers in front of me. And then, yeah, this year it's Peter Lambert. And who knows, maybe there's some staying power. He is a former first round pick who had to go to Colorado, which is never a great place to go when you get drafted or whatever. Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Had to go to Colorado and then have to get it out of the mud. Was he in Japan or was he in Korea?

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, I know it was Japan. He was overseas.

[Seth Payne]

He was overseas. I think it was Japan. So, yeah, I mean, this is somebody that has had to come full circle and now it feels like he's exactly where he needs to be.

[Brandon Scott]

What I was going to say was there's probably Astro fans like, yeah, he's keeping us in this thing so that the front office can make another big swing and trade stuff away.

[Seth Payne]

Oh, so they're like.

[Brandon Scott]

So that we can get knocked out in the wild card or not even make the playoffs.

[Seth Payne]

Could you quit it, Peter Lambert already?

[Brandon Scott]

If it weren't for Peter Lambert, maybe we'd be a seller right now.

[Seth Payne]

I'm down, Peter, because I do think

[Brandon Scott]

in this, in this, this brings me back. We'll listen to the home run brigade here in a second just to celebrate that from last night. But it's gotta be a really interesting time to be Dana Brown because I think they, in their heart of hearts, they want to be buyers. It's just how Jim Crane's wired.

[Seth Payne]

He.

[Brandon Scott]

He wants, he wants to win.

[Sean Pendergast]

He.

[Brandon Scott]

He's made promises about Keeping the title championship window open. So I think he wants to keep those promises. I think he's competitive. I think Dana Brown's gonna do whatever Jim Crane's bidding is. Frankly, I think if Jim Crane said, you know what, I changed my mind. We're gonna be a seller, Dana Brown would be a seller. He's gonna. The direction they go, the general direction they go will be dictated by the owner. The execution of that direction will be done by the general manager with probably some oversight from Jim Crane. The bigger the deal, the more the oversight probably is. This is just a guess by me. I mean, he's done that with other GMs that aren't Dana Brown, you know, he, he's, he was the one that suggested they go get Zach Reinke back in the day. Jim Crane. So from this standpoint, he's involved. It's just gotta be a very interesting time to be Dana Brown. Because even if your edict is to be a buyer, that doesn't stop other teams from calling you about Jeremy Pena. And if you're Dana Brown, you've got to answer those phone calls. It's your duty to answer those phone calls and at least listen to what they're offering. So that's got to be a very strange thing. As opposed to previous seasons, even the last couple seasons where it was much more clear. Yeah, the Astros, if you're gonna buy or be a buyer or seller, they're a buyer. This time two years ago, they.

[Seth Payne]

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[Brandon Scott]

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[Brandon Scott]

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[Seth Payne]

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[Brandon Scott]

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[Brandon Scott]

They already had like 55 wins. You know they got four, you know they got 50 now last year they were well into the 60 win mark at this time of year. So they were clearly buyers last year. This has got to be very strange because of the way the, the makeup of the AL where you are. There's so many teams that feel like they have a chance, including the Astros. That, and it's not just Dana Brown. It's got to be like the Tigers are straddling that fence right now and they've got the biggest, they've got the biggest trade chip in the sport. What are, you know what, like, what's their GM doing right now? That's gotta be just such a unique position because the way the league has unfolded, Brandon, that you've got a bunch of GMs that are taking buying and selling calls right now.

[Seth Payne]

It's one of those times where I think we hear it all the time with GMs across sports where they talk about balancing the short term success and the long term future. And this is essentially the job of a GM of not sacrificing the long term future of the franchise for the short term success. Success, but to also be as aggressive as possible in it and to take advantage of a moment, if you have it, which is the moment that we're talking about right here with the Astros. And so you hear that and it sounds like GM speak a lot of times when you hear. Because we're like, duh, that's your job. But here it is in like, like most epitomized right here in this in its realest form is like, okay, well, the best thing to better this team, the best way to better a team this year trying to make a run is to perhaps sacrifice the long term, some part of the long term future. But how much of a right now does this team really have? How realistic is it and how much is it the word that you used earlier? Delusion.

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Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

Like are we delusional or are we aggressive and competitive? And where do those words start to kind of conflate a little bit or start to overlap, which is the, the delicate balance that I feel like the Astros are trying to, they're trying to walk that line. But when we try to evaluate this and figure this out, I'm glad you mentioned Crane. Cause that's really what we're talking about. Dana Brown is going to do the bidding of Jim Crane. Exactly. The way you put it. And it's much harder to get a beat on. What exactly does Jim Crane think? We know how he operates, but what does he think really about this team right now in this moment? And that's going to tell us. That would tell us a lot about how they're going to approach that.

[Brandon Scott]

Well, and who are the. Who are the untouchables in the minor league system? Because back in the day, Kyle Tucker was an untouchable in the minor league system. And it turns out it was a good thing that they didn't cut Kyle Tucker loose. He turned into an All Star for the. Not so much an All Star for the Dodgers. We'll get into that later in the show. But he turned into an All Star. Now, if you truly are trying to contend. It was easy to not trade Kyle Tucker back in the day because you didn't have the same. This team's got a lot of needs. Yeah, it might make the playoffs, but this is not a World Series team right now.

[Seth Payne]

So. And if it is, it's kind of like one by accident and one by default. Like, if they were to go to the World Series, it would be. It would easily be their most. Their least impressive World Series run of a team.

[Brandon Scott]

100%. Well in the. In the regular season, at least. Right. You know, like.

[Seth Payne]

Or to even make it. Right. This team wouldn't be as good as the 2019 team that was the best Astros team that we ever seen. And not even as good as the 21 team that lost to the Braves.

[Brandon Scott]

They don't have three starters you can trust right now. They don't have three you can trust. They barely have. They barely have two.

[Seth Payne]

I love that you said this, because I do this game probably once a week where I'm like, okay, who are the three guys now? If we were to start a playoff series right now? Who are my three guys?

[Brandon Scott]

Seth and I do it on the air all the time. And. And he was like, a couple of weeks ago, I'm going, tatsui Imai might be your Game two starter.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

This is kind of before Peter Lambert had gotten on this tear that he's on right now. I say tear like he's.

[Seth Payne]

It's.

[Brandon Scott]

It's not like he's eight innings of shutout ball every time. He's just very solid. Yeah. But for this team, it's a tear.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. You'll you'll take reliable. Yeah, he's a tear.

[Brandon Scott]

He's a rel. He's on a reliable tear right now.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Brandon Scott]

And that's the thing. You can't even. Like, Hunter Brown's not trustworthy right now. Like, Hunter Brown. Like, he would be one of your.

[Seth Payne]

He'd be your.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, but he's not trustworthy right now. I think he would even say that. Like, he's. He's a little bit all over the place right now.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Let's relive the home runs from last night. I don't want to get too deep down, like, being a nervous Nelly about the playoffs quite yet. They are 50 and 50 after all.

[Seth Payne]

Who's your three is kind of fun, though, because. Because it could be outside of Hunter Brown. It could be any combination on that back end.

[Brandon Scott]

We know Hunter Brown and Peter Lambert would be two of them.

[Seth Payne]

Yes.

[Brandon Scott]

I just don't think you could. If the playoffs were to start tomorrow, you can't deny Peter Lambert and Hunter Brown's.

[Seth Payne]

Hunter Brown.

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Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But at one point it would have been Eric Getty. At one point it would have been. It could have been Tatsu, as you mentioned.

[Brandon Scott]

I guess clearly Imai would be three for me at this point.

[Seth Payne]

Today.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, today. Yeah, today. Now.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. If you'd asked me a couple weeks ago, though, I might have said Eric,

[Brandon Scott]

ask me on Monday. You're back in here on Monday. My starts this weekend. Ye.

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Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah. If he gets knocked out after 2/3 of an inning, I'm coming in with a completely different tune. And that's kind of the point of the whole thing. All right, so three home runs last night got the job done. That accounted for four of the five runs in the Astros five to two win. Here was Jeremy Pena. Third home run in three games.

[Sean Pendergast]

Soccer Paredes. Pena tries to go for three straight, first time in his career. Back to back to back game. Home run for Jeremy Pena and it's two nothing Astros.

[Brandon Scott]

Oh, man, it's been spicy against the Marlins.

[Sean Pendergast]

A lot of jalapeno in this swing this week.

[Brandon Scott]

All right, that's good, Byron. That's good.

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I love it.

[Seth Payne]

I love it.

[Brandon Scott]

Blum. Blum. So joy. I love that Blum has. Has so much joy in his heart on these home runs. It's so fun to listen to the

[Seth Payne]

home runs, the nicknames, something that I didn't realize they were doing. And I've been watching Astros games. I guess I just missed it.

[Joe Espada]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

But they reminded me or revealed to me for the first time that they were doing A Lamborghini. A Lamborghini thing with Peter Lambert. I didn't realize that they were doing it. And so, you know, they were mentioning over the weekend that Erichetti hadn't been holding up his. No end of the Lamborghini.

[Brandon Scott]

Flat tires in the back.

[Seth Payne]

Exactly.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah.

[Seth Payne]

So it's not exactly the Lamborghini that it's supposed to be, but if he. If he kind of gets back. Right. It could be Hunter Brown in the Lamborghetti.

[Brandon Scott]

I like that.

[Seth Payne]

You know what I mean? Or if it's not. It's just the Lambo and Tatsuya Imai. But I love the cheesiness that comes with them having some joy in this baseball season that has been up and down.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, it's been very up and down. So that was paying you three home runs in three games. That. That was the second run of the game for the Astros. This game remained tied. 2, 2 for most of the evening last night. So Lambert did not get the win last night.

[Seth Payne]

So.

[Brandon Scott]

But we got to the eighth inning and the. What are we, about two months away? Two and a half months away from an MVP being voted on the soon to be mvp. Jordan Alvarez does his thing off the outside edge.

[Sean Pendergast]

Pena goes this ball driven deep to left field, looking up Hernandez. Good. He's done it again. This guy is awesome.

[Brandon Scott]

He's just.

[Sean Pendergast]

There you go.

[Brandon Scott]

Good enough. This guy's awesome.

[Sean Pendergast]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

I laughed when Blum said that last night.

[Seth Payne]

And not just because he hit the home run, but that ball, I think was a strike, but he kind of goes and gets it. Like, he, like, it didn't look like the type of pitch that he should be able to homer off of. And he goes opposite field.

[Brandon Scott]

Like, going with the pitch.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah.

[Brandon Scott]

Like you oftentimes when guys. Oh, like when he hits up, when someone hits opposite field. Like, good job going with the pitch. Yeah, it, like lands in front of the left fielder.

[Seth Payne]

Yeah. It's supposed to be a double advance

[Brandon Scott]

or double down the line. Like, you know, kind of lands just inside the foul line. Jordan Alvarez goes with a pitch, and it ends up in the Crawford boxes like he's. He is something else. Very next hitter, Isak Peredes.

[Sean Pendergast]

This ball drilled deep to left field. You can forget about that one. Back to back Jacks. Isaac Paredes behind your Non Alvarez and the Astros in front, five to two.

[Brandon Scott]

Yeah, that the. I mean, this. The top third of the order is doing the heavy lifting on this team right now. Even in the games they were losing to the Orioles last week, the offense was all getting generated from Yordon. And you know, I know Pena got banged up a little bit, but in Paredes has been much more solid of late. Like it's all coming from those three guys, right?

[Seth Payne]

Oh, dude. Shout out to Jordan. Even like being helping with the light hitting outfield. I've been saying this all year. It is a top heavy infield slash Jordan, heavy infield slash dh, heavy lineup. And if they could get anything from those outfielders, which happens to be that back end of the lineup, they could really be cooking with grease. But Jordan is that guy.

[Brandon Scott]

Absolutely. Baseball Talk on Sports Radio 610 presented by Xfinity. Score the most reliable Wi Fi 1 price 5 years guaranteed Xfinity. Imagine that. I know a lot of you tuning in didn't get to hear the announcement yesterday. You may have heard what the announcement ended up being. We'll dig into it more at 7 o'. Clock. For those of you who missed the actual announcement, we're going to replay it. But Sports Radio 610 is going to be becoming rebranded, moving to the FM dial. I say moving to the FM dial. 95. 7 the Fans starting on August 13th, simulcasting as 610 the Fan. Yes, here on Sports Radio 6 10. A lot of questions came in about that yesterday. So Brandon and I will do sort of a, we'll replay the announcement. If you missed it yesterday, you won't want to miss it. And, and we'll do kind of a frequently asked questions thing. So if you're looking for sort of a, a, you know, okay, what's going on segment, we're gonna do that at the top of the hour, 7 o' clock because coming up next, our 10 days until training camp. We're down to day five until Texans training camp, which starts next Wednesday, day five on the radio. Question number five is about the running back room. Are we concerned about the overall depth in the running back room?

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