Ice In The Cave
Ice In The Cave
Why The Astros Went Flat In A Brutal Week
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Ice Man Is frustrated after a brutal week and a flat 7-2 loss, even though the Astros still sit in first place and control their own destiny. I break down what’s going wrong, why the trade deadline felt short, and what has to click fast with a key stretch coming up.
• Ugly series recap and why the offense looks lifeless
• Mini-slumps for Jeremy Peña and a cooled-off Yordan Alvarez
• Dalton Varsho early impact and why his left-handed bat matters
• Why I’m underwhelmed with Dana Brown’s roster-building and deadline approach
• Bullpen versus starter roles and what pitching changes I want
• Giants series preview and why the nine-game homestand is the turning point
• What “good enough” means in a wide-open American League playoff race
• Carlos Correa update and how a return could change the lineup energy
Cold Open And Late-Night Mood
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the ice page. Cold facts like the ice page. Ice man with the bits about to open up a cold case. Talk about it over cold drink. Iceman in the building topic. We can talk about players. We can touch it how you feel, what you thought about Iceman.
SPEAKER_01Wrapped up watching the mask drills a little bit earlier. Because I was gonna wrap up this week.
Breaking Down The 7-2 Loss
SPEAKER_01Thinking that we would get a win then on this Sunday night. That didn't happen. Terrible game tonight. My Charles Barkley impersonation. Terrible. Offense was flat. Pitching sucked. Gave up four home runs tonight. It's like home run derby for the Padres tonight. They lost, lost the series, lost the series before that. Finished the week two and four. Terrible. Terrible. Lost seven to two tonight. They still maintain that half game lead over the Rangers. They're about four games ahead of the Mariners. So they still control their own destiny as they are in first place. They fall to 60 and 59. This was a terrible series. It's been a terrible week. Jeremy Pinha is into a mini slump now. He's been on fire. He's 0 for his last 20, which is not good. Jordan Alvarez, which is he's having that AL MVP year. Still batting 322, 35 home runs, 86 RBIs, an on-base percentage of 435 because he's getting so many walks. He has not hit a home run in the month of August. He hasn't hit a home run since July 28th. Here we are, August 10th. That's 11 games ago. He's cooled off a little bit.
Trade Deadline Aftermath And Varsho
SPEAKER_01Like I said, this week coming in on Monday, after the last wrap-up I had, I was very underwhelmed on what Dana Brown did at the trade deadline on August 3rd, which was one week ago. We did get Dalton Varshaud from Toronto. He's having a struggling year. He does hit with Pop. He did a he hit a home run tonight. He's off to a slow start with us. In six games, 21 at bats. He's got a 143 average. We're gonna need his left-handed bat. Plays a good center field. Javier pitched tonight decent. I think still Javier should be back into the bullpen.
SPEAKER_00I think that's where he's more effective now. He he he just doesn't come across as a starter to me anymore.
SPEAKER_01I think it's good to have him throwing hard for about three innings for you. Middle relief. Yeah, I'm underwhelmed, man. It's a flat week. Astros go into San Fran on Monday. Three game series there. Very important. You want to come home with the lead of the division? Staying in first place. Because you do have a nine-game homestand coming up and some very winnable games. But you gotta take care of business in San Fran. You're one and three on this road trip. A sweep will be nice. San Fran is struggling a little bit this year. So maybe the Astros can do a little damage while they're in San Fran. San Fran's like 49 and 69. They're 20 games under 500 right now, so they're very beatable at the moment. Gotta bounce back. I don't care what happens the rest of the season. I'm cheering for the Astros to be into the playoffs. Like we're we're all cheering for the Astros to be in the playoffs.
Dana Brown On The Hot Seat
SPEAKER_01But I don't see Dana Brown, our general manager, being with this team next season. I think it's been two trade deadlines in the last two seasons that he's underwhelmed us. He did get Carlos Correa back last season, but that's not the big the big splash we're looking for. I was looking for a bigger splash in this trade deadline. I mean, you're in first place. You have a chance to make another run. Maybe your last run for a while. I don't believe that just yet. But Dana Brown, you gotta go. I don't like how you got this team put together with tape, band-aids, super glue. This team needed a punch. And that's what trades do sometimes. It remotivates the players that you are out there working hard for them and getting them extra help. Same thing with the managers. Joe Espada, our judge, I mean our coach. His job's on the line. He has enough to win. You have the MVP of the American League on your team right now. Jeremy Pinhas on fire until this series. You're starting to see Christian Walker get hot. He's got his average up to 240. Esok Perettis, he's up to 251. He's been steady. But he's spelled, he's failed in some RBI situations lately. Cam Smith is heating up. He's up to 220. He was right around 200 there for a while. He's starting to put some pop on the ball. I mean, he has 15 home runs this season. Altuve has raised his average up to 243. He's gotten some timely hitting. Finally knocked one out of the park the other night. He hasn't been hitting with a lot of power, a lot of extra base hits. He's been getting some singles. But he's not the old Jose Altuvi of old. Yannair Diaz. He's up to 256. He's been serviceable. Trammel's been pretty pretty decent for us. The offense is good enough. It's not a great offense. A lot of potential in this lineup. Starting pitching decent. Lambert is still the workhorse. I think Itsua, our pitcher from Japan, I think he gets back in the start lineup this week. But I think Javier needs to go back down to the to the ballpen. Jeff King, he needs to go back to the miners. We did bring up uh back up Jason Myers to help out. I hear the Astros are still out there working the waiver wires of some of these guys who have been recently DFA'd, let go. Dana's out there searching. But it might be a little too late. We needed you searching and making deals before this trade deadline passed. Didn't happen. Now, Joe Aspotti, you're coaching for your life. We need a playoff run. We don't need to squeak into the playoffs because the American League is weak this season. Weak. But this record, if we were in the National League, we wouldn't be nowhere near the playoffs. We're only a few games back for the number two seed in the American League at 60 and 59. That shows you how weak the American League is this season. So it's there for the take-in to make a run in the playoffs. I'm disappointed, man. Probably hear a little frustration in my voice in this podcast. It's late Sunday night. I'm not really cranky. I'm not tired. I slept in on this Sunday morning. This whole weekend I caught up on rest. So I'm well rested going into Monday. Got to get my mind right for these late starts on the West Coast with us playing the Giants. But
Giants Series And Homestand Stakes
SPEAKER_01like I said earlier, we have a nine-game homestand coming up. That's going to be key. That's when you can gain some ground. On that number two seed, you can separate yourself from hopefully the Rangers. You got the Mariners coming in on Friday for three. The Angels coming in for three. And then you got the A's coming in for three. All three of those teams are beatable. All those teams are under 500. But we got to take care of business in San Fran. We got Wesnesky going Monday night. That's an 845 start. Then we got Brown on Tuesday. Then we got Bianco on Wednesday. All three have been pitching well. Then you got Lambert. Lambert, hmm, a little hiccup the other night, but another quality start. Only gave up three runs in about six innings of pitching. Let's get back on these winning ways, man. About a week and a half ago, we were on fire like Mariah. Actually got up to three games over 500. I think that was the first time this season. So gotta roll them sleeves up and go back to work. This season's gonna have ups and downs the rest of the way. Because we're playing with what we got. It's good enough. Not a great team. Good enough. But that's all you have to be in the American League this season is good enough. I mean the Red Sox are on fire. But they were terrible until they got on fire, but they're like a a crazy on fire type team right now. Astros have that potential. We have good pitching. Decent middle relief. Got a hell of a closer in hater. But it's gonna be ups and downs. I think we have a really good opportunity of taking care of business with a team with San Fran being 20 games under 500, and then we got three three other teams coming in to our place under 500.
Who Must Get Hot Together
SPEAKER_01So that's 12 games against teams that are under 500. We can't play down to their level. We got to take care of business. We got to represent. We got to show the league that we are a first place team.
SPEAKER_00We got to show the league that we are ready for a run in the American League. We're good enough.
SPEAKER_01We need these key players to all gel and get hot at the same time. Can't put it on Alvarez and Pina. If they don't go, we don't go. Sometimes they need to be they need to be they need to be picked up. We need the Altubes. We need the Perettas. We need the Walkers, Smiths, Diaz, Trammell. Hell, we need Jason Myers. And hopefully the trade that we made for Dalton Sparso. He does have a strong left-handed bat. He did go deep tonight. Hopefully he settles in here real quick and gets on a gets on a little burner here. Pitching has to hold up. Think there's some players that need to be in the middle relief, out in the bullpen that used to be starters for us. I see the Astros making a move sometime this week on something out there, free agency-wise. We need a little bit more pop out in that outfield still. I mean, Smith is giving us some pop, Tramble's giving us some pop. Hopefully, Jason Myers can find the magic again. We're going to see. Starts Monday night. It's time to get a winning streak started. I want to come back here next week, or maybe even Thursday for a podcast. Depending how the week's going. I want to talk about a winning streak again. I think this week we have a very good opportunity of winning sixth straight. Starts Monday night. It's late Sunday night. I'm going to say it tonight. But I appreciate you listening to my podcast. The support has been crazy good. As we get closer to the end of August and then the last month of the season in September. Hopefully we're seeing great things from these Astros. They got their work cut out for them. But you're in the race. You can win it. We can do this. No thanks to Dana Brown. What have you really done? I'm ready for him to go already. Jury's out on you, Joe Espada. You did a good job holding this team together. But we're spoiled here in Houston with our Astros. Not about just holding it together. We're talking about winning championships.
Correa Update And Closing Rally
SPEAKER_01One bit of good news I I hear, Carlos Correa is actually taking bat and practice again. There's a slim chance that he joins his team back in September.
SPEAKER_00That'd be a good shot in the arm. We need a few shots in the arm.
SPEAKER_01I'm still I'm hyped. I'm ready. I just need you Astros to get me fired up again. Time to get Alvarez back going again. Big man took a little rest this weekend. I know he's frustrated. He's a professional hitter. He'll come through. We're gonna see. Just wanted to jump in here real quick and talk to you guys. This podcast released at on Monday at 10 a.m. I'm your boy Iceman. I'm ready. Couldn't even find the music right there. That's how frustrated I am right now.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the Ice Kold. Talk about it over cold drinks. I do have a deck in the top, and we can talk about it. Any touching, we can touch it how you feel. Ice man to ice man I am ice. No idea that will be drinking. I mean I know what I mean. I mean, I call it the chain star, I can the case car everything like the item star. I can cave I can the cave item the cave. I can the cave. I don't I don't the cave I can the cave item the case.
