Lance McCullers Jr.

If anybody has experience... tossing a beautiful game after the Astros get shellacked on the road in Philly.

It's Christian Javier, and that Lance McCullers game they lost in the World Series, 7-0, all the home runs, and then Javier comes out, combined no-hitter.

And, Charlie, when we talked about it, you brought it up.

I was thinking the same thing, because it's also, who else do they have? Like, Javier, just like, that was enough, I think, to give him the ball.

Four and a third innings, one earned, five hits, one walk, and two strikeouts.

And what is it with the Astros and their affinity for sweeper first righties? Pecco doubled the usage of his breaker, making it his most thrown offering, putting him in the same company of fellow sweeper lovers from Houston, Hayden Wesneski, Kaiwei Tang, and Lance McCullers Jr., And more.

There's plenty of sweeper lovers there in Houston.

Maybe this would have made more sense to me if the pitch didn't fail to exceed 60% strikes while inducing just one whiff.

for what Houston became.

When Click took over, Houston already had Altuve, Bregman, Correa, Tucker, Alvarez, Verlander, McCullers, Valdez, Presley.

The organization had already developed an incredible amount of talent.

The Houston Chronicle found that 19 years of the 26 players on the 2022 World Series roster had been acquired under the previous GM.

And I would argue that his free agent record isn't nearly as impressive as his trade record.

But then you get to the contracts.

Lance McCullers, five years, $85 million.

Ryan Presley extended.

In the other 134 games that the Astros have played this year, so minus the seven that Wisniewski has started, in the other 134 games the Astros have played this year, they have had nine starts of seven innings or more.

Five of those starts were made by Spencer Arrighetti, Lance McCullers, and Mike Burrows.

Spencer Arrighetti is a Blue Jay.

Mike Burrows is still on the IL.

And Lance McCullers is not on a roster anywhere.

Just goes to show you how much they have missed just someone being able to get them deep in games.

And, you know, this was Wisniewski's kind of calling card, right? When they acquired him from the Cubs, it was – He's a strike thrower.

especially from AA and AAA.

There have been guys in the past that have gone up except to McCullers from A-ball.

So it is just an exciting time at that time for guys to be able to showcase their skill set and show them that they can play at that level.

And also it can revive other guys' careers as well.

You have Colton Gordon, who's been starting down there in Nashville.

They brought him in in that Lance McCullers deal.

But...

I don't think they're going to go with an extra starter.

20- 2019, you know, you had, you had Verlander, you had, you know, you had Gerrit Cole, you had Zack Greinke, you had Lance McC- you had all these guys.

2018, you had Keuchel still, you had McCullers, you had, you had Verlander, you had Gerrit Cole.

Like, you had horses, guys that are gonna go out there, and the word that they use in Major League Baseball is they're gonna post.

They're gonna throw their innings.