What do you know about it? I was going to say, did it work? I mean, it worked, obviously, because they got in, but it's not like the Astros are playing insane baseball coming into the playoffs right now.

Yeah, there's one thing that I have learned not to doubt about this organization or about this ball club over the last decade.

And it's the fact that no matter what anybody says about this ball club, it's not going to impact what's happening inside that clubhouse.

These guys are the most resilient team I've ever been around.

You know, they have the 2017 issue where the scandal comes out and they're like, yeah, you know what? we're going to keep playing baseball.

Then you have a season like you have this year with 19 different starting pitchers, 156 different starting lineups.

And they're like, Hey man, whoever comes in this clubhouse, we're going to embrace you because we've got the idea of going out there and playing as hard as we possibly can.

I mean, other guys were doing damage against the White Sox, but the White Sox were like, we do not want Alvarez to beat us.

Hmm

...

I think kind of, uh, scared Dana Brown off a little bit.

Uh, we don't have a, we don't have a plethora of talent in double-A and triple-A, so to speak.

We've got some big league talent, uh, that has experience in, in triple-A, but may be underperforming a little bit.

And all of our coveted, uh, prospects are in A ball, and they're phenomenal guys.

Uh, the Xavier Ngays, uh, you know, the, uh, Álvarezes that we have down there, and there's a couple of young pitchers that have started to kinda burst onto the scene.

Wow.

[laughs]

... first of all, which is genius in its own, uh, right.

But, uh, you guys are getting a good guy in Spencer Arrighetti.

He's, uh, honestly, he's one of my favorites.

And, you know, we, we learned about Spencer Arrighetti a couple of years ago in the minor leagues.

Uh, you know, he's a local kid right out of Katy, just about, you know, 30 minutes west of Houston, out of Cinco Ranch High School, so playing for his hometown team, which was, uh, incredible for him to be able to do.

And he kind of burst onto the scene.

Why Dalton Varsho? Why do the Astros want Dalton Varsho?

As someone who's looking at them from an opponent's point of view, why have they been so good?

Um, you know what, uh, we, we...

I remember we talked a couple of times and we were noticing how they had, they had drafted pretty well.

They're starting to develop, to develop a little bit better, and then you get into that Asian Pacific market and you bring over a guy like Murakami.

Um, and all of a sudden you've got this, th- the, you know, this veteran influence.

You've got this, uh, you know, overseas influence, some different angles coming at you, and then you get these young guys who ju- who are just exuberant and ready to play.

And then you get a guy in, at, at the helm in Will Venable, who has experience and who's kind of maybe testing some of his managerial limits at the same time.

What, what's it been like calling those games n- night in and night out?

As someone who's looking at them from an opponent's point of view, why have they been so good?

Um, you know what? Uh, we, we...

I remember we talked a couple of times, and we were noticing how they had, they had drafted pretty well.

They're starting to develop, to develop a little bit better, and then you get into that Asian Pacific market, and you bring over a guy like Murakami.

Um, and all of a sudden you've got this, the, the, you know, this veteran influence.

You've got this, uh, [smacks lips] you know, overseas influence, some different angles coming at you, and then you get these young guys who are ju- who are just exuberant and ready to play.

And then you get a guy in, at, at the helm in Will Venable, who has experience and who's kind of maybe testing some of his managerial limits at the same time.

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He's around Yordan every day, which can't hurt either, I would assume.

Yeah.

No, he, he's in a very good spot.

I think, uh, actually getting Yiesek healthy and hitting behind him and producing some runs has helped him out a little bit, too.

But I think overall, to your point, when we broke camp t- uh, this year, there were two things for Christian Walker that had changed from last year.

To your point, much more comfortable in the Houston, uh, market, much more comfortable in the Houston clubhouse, kinda understands his role a little bit.

And he also broke healthy.

Mm-hmm.

But it's like, when are you going to make an adjustment and buzz these guys in?

That's where the guys that put these on and start looking real close to the computer and they're like, yeah, attack that zone.

And it doesn't work.

The guy gets his arms extended and they drive the ball from gap to gap.

There's not a ballpark in America that can hold either of these guys.

And that's what's fascinating to me is that you've got to find that position where you can limit the damage.

But where do you limit the damage when they can go almost coast to coast with their power? But yeah, it's just kind of funny that you've got a bunch, this sounds terrible, but you've got a bunch of guys buried in a corner staring at a computer screen going, well, 46% of the time, if we go over here, we might get them out.

What is it like when you do see those guys with the glasses who come walking around? What are those conversations like?