The Astros Cannot Waste A Yordan Alvarez MVP Year

Ice Man reacts to a brutal 12-11 loss where a 6-1 lead evaporates and the pitching staff turns a winnable night into a gut punch. We lay out why the Astros can still chase the AL West, but only if Dana Brown stops waiting and makes real roster decisions before the trade deadline.
• Calling for Mike Burroughs to be sent to the minors
• Breaking down how the pitching gives away games even when the offense scores big
• Highlighting Yordan Alvarez’s MVP-level season and why it raises the urgency
• Tracking Jeremy Pena’s importance and the health concern around him
• Pointing to the outfield as the biggest need and pushing for a left-handed bat
• Weighing trade deadline timing and the cost of waiting until August 3
• Setting expectations for the All-Star break push and the goal of getting back to .500

Transcript

Welcome To The Ice Cave

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the ice cake. Cold facts like the ice case. Iceman with the builds about to open up a cold case. Talk about it with a cold jerk. Iceman in the building top of we can talk about it. How you feel with your ice man with another out of pocket trickery? Yes, I am in the ice cocktail. Go hard with the ice man. This is the best ice man week.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

I just play Astro weekly wrap-up of the jacket. Which I'm releasing once a week. As we get into the second half of the season. Oh, we still have the all-star break. And I think a few players need the all-star break for these Houston Astros. This podcast is a release for uh it's set for release for 10 a.m. on Tuesday. It is actually Monday night as I'm recording this. The Astro game just ended. USA's World Cup just ended, but we'll talk about that another day.

Burroughs Blows A 6-1 Lead

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Man, Mike Burroughs, man. Dana Brown, if you're listening to me right now, it is time to send Mike Burroughs down to the minor leagues. I do not want to see this guy pitch or start pitch, being a starting pitcher, another game. He needs some time in the minors. The guy has a six-run ERA. Pathetic. I mean, I'd watch the game, and the Astros got off to a 6-1 lead. We're in the fourth inning. I'm kind of watching the USA soccer game and the Astros. I'm saying, oh, this is going to be one of those sit-in-the-rocking chair type games. You know, the Astros got this under control. 6-1 momentum, clearly their way. No. Leave it to Mike Burroughs. Hey, let me see how I can screw this up. I mean, gave up three straight runs in the fourth inning. Next inning giving up a grand slam. The guy was awful tonight. He's been awful a few of his starts now. He's not had any consistency all year. Like I said, Dana Brown, it's time for this guy to go to the minors. I do not want to see him pitch another game. The offense did everything they possibly could do to win this game tonight. The pitching has been the question mark. It's not the offense. I mean, the Astros are 18-12 since June 30. And it's not because of the pitching. And they are doing this with smoke and mirrors. There's only really two guys that has paced the team, and that's Alvarez and Pinha consistently. I mean, Alvarez leads the team in every major offensive category, as he should. He's having an MVP or MVP year. He's batting 318. He has 29 homers, 67 RBIs. He has an on-base percentage of 426, and has 105 hits already this season. He's the American League MVP. Give him his trophy now. Jeremy Pina, if he can stay healthy, which is a big question mark. Seems he'll be back by the end of the week, hopefully. When he is in the lineup, he's batting 295. Then after that, it's smoke and mirrors. Altubi's having a terrible year. Walker is up and down. Cam Smith is showing signs of coming out of a season-long slump. Christian Walker has produced some power. Isaac Perettis. He's showing signs of coming out of his slump. He's up to 251. The dude was at 212 just about a month ago. Trade deadline is August 3rd. Dana Brown, you need to get on the phone. And we need some help in the outfield. I think the starting pitching is there. But Javier's back on the team. Javier needs to be back in the starting lineup, and Burroughs needs

Alvarez And Pena Carry The Offense

SPEAKER_01 4:10

to be sent down to the minors. Lambert's been giving us some good games. It's a pitching. It's a starting pitching. When a team jumps out to a 6-1 lead, you're supposed to win that game in the major leagues. I mean, that's that's on your pitching. I mean, the Astros this year alone, like I said, they're 18-12 since June 3rd. And I believe the night was the 10th or 11th loss that they've lost after scoring five or more runs. Last year they were 56 and 7. When they scored 5 or more runs. This year the pitching's just giving it away. It's frustrating. This team is now 45 and 48. They're three games out of first. Just last week they were a half game out of first. The American League sucks this year. We just came out of a series where we took two out of three from the Tampa Bay Rays. They're the best team in the American League. At 52-36. We can play with the best, but not consistently. This team is above average on the offensive side. Below average on the pitching side. And that's that's your starting pitching. Having Josh Hayder back is is been a big plus. He's a closer. We just got to get to that point. It's the middle relief, it's the starting pitching. I mean, Aspada, we we we we've got to look at these guys. And if you're not producing, you've had a long enough season so far to see who your go-to guys are. Can't keep this up. It's frustrating. They have been a good watch over the last month. They've creeped within two games under 500. Now they're three games behind five, uh, three games below 500. Still only three games out of first place. Lots of baseball left. But Dana, you cannot sit on your hands. Dissect the problem. Let's fix the problem. It's frustrating. Now, I'm not crazy. I don't think this team's gonna be a World Series favorite if they do make the playoffs. But anything can happen. This team has showed that they can be a champion team. Still have Altube. Had him a home run tonight. You got the league MVP. Jeremy Pinha is an all-star when healthy. Oh, that's frustrating too. Jeremy, please, please, please. Stay

Outfield Help And Deadline Pressure

SPEAKER_01 7:35

healthy. That's a big ask. The outfield is just uh it's just pathetic. There's no one in that outfield that we could depend on a night and night out and on this team. That's just straight talk. Astros need to go out and make a big move. I'm hearing rumors by the August 3rd trade deadline that uh we we might do something big with starting pitching. I don't think we need starting pitching. It's a good plus. But I think the key is going to be the production that we get on the offensive side from the outfield. Got some great defensive players out there. But this division is here for the taking. But it that can change real fast. Right now, Seattle hasn't taken off. They're 47-44. The Rangers at 45-45. We got them next week, a three-game series right before the All-Star break. I know you can hear the frustration in my voice, but I'm an optimistic guy. I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm just a true Astro fan, and this game was one of the most one of the tougher watches tonight. You lose 12-11. 11 runs should win you 100 out of 100 games. If you score 11 runs, you're supposed to win that game. Bottom line. I give the offense the credit. They they battled back. But middle relief came in and still couldn't hold it. Mike Burroughs is just, I can't, I can't say it enough. He's terrible. Hunter Brown didn't look so good the other night. But I'll write that off as a bad Allen. Lambert's been key for us. This team just needs some somebody to step up. We need some more leaders on this team. And I think it's going to be Perettis. We don't have Correa for the rest of the year, but I did see him in the locker room the other day. I do like that he is around the team because he can be a help to a lot of these younger players. Diaz has shown signs of being uh hitting the ball a lot better since he's been back off the injury list. But it's going to be the outfield. I mean, we sent Jake Myers down. He's just been terrible. We finally had to send him back to the miners at batting at 206. Bryce Matthews, 197, hit a home run tonight, but you can't but you can't bat 197 and be our starting center fielder. We need a left-handed bat in the outfield. I don't know if we can wait till August to the trade deadline, which most trades don't go down until the trade deadline. But sometimes you need to pull the trigger a little earlier. I know how it works. Teams are trying to get the biggest bang for their trade. And you're trying to hold your best prospects and your best players and trying to get another player. But sometimes you gotta pay more to get a little better. Still lots of season left. I think this team is gonna be in good shape by the end of next week when the all-star break gets here. I still think there's an outside chance that we could be in first place by the all-star break. But it's gonna take a lot more consistent hitting, consistent pitching. That's starting, middle relief. Like I said, I'm good with Hayter. Hayter has been lights out since he's been back off the injury list. We got the MVP

Frustration With Coaching And Execution

SPEAKER_01 12:05

of the American League and Jordan Alvarez on our team. Let's don't waste it, Astros. Man, I'm so frustrated tonight. This is where I needed a co-host, somebody to calm the ice man down. But you know, but these podcasts, I just jump on. And tonight I just tried to meditate a little bit before I got on the podcast. I know I promised to release tomorrow morning, which it will be released. I was hoping it'd be a W release. As in when. But no. Mike Burroughs. Oh, I wanna just seeing him on the mound, man, is just frustrating. And Spada, why did you keep him in so long? Obviously, he was pitching bat in practice. There's gotta be a point where you say he just doesn't have it tonight. He blew a 6-1 lead. When they got to 6-6, it was time to take him out. No, but he had to let that we get him in one more end and get him in trouble and bring one of our middle relievers there just hit or miss. It's a good team. Some good players. It's not a great team, it's not a dynasty team anymore. It's frustrating because we've we've gotten spoilt over the last nine to ten years watching championship caliber baseball. But there but there are some there's there's young talent on this team that that it's the next step. It's the Alvarez, it's the Pinas. I need you, Perettis. The Cam Smiths. Eventually, Bryce Matthews is gonna be something for us. Janner Diaz. I need you guys. I need you veterans. I need Altuve. I need you to come through. I need Christian Walker. You you've been up and down. But you have a lot of you have a lot of pop in your bat this year. Average still around 240. On base percentages, alright, 312. Man, but you got that guy bat number two, Alvarez. He's a beast. When you have someone like that, you can't waste that talent. You become buyers at the trade deadline. We're not sellers. It's not time to give up on this team. But it is frustrating. It's a long season. It's a long season. I tell myself that every day is a long season. But you gotta make a move sooner or later. We need to rattle off eight to ten wins. Don't get me wrong, we played better. Like I said, we we're 18-12 since June 3rd. We played better baseball. But we dug ourselves a big hole early in the season. And I get it, lots of it is injuries. Guys underperforming. You know, baseball's a crazy sport. You know, it comes in ebbing and flows. You know, you just you you you you ride the big wave, and sometimes you gotta ride the small waves, too. Can't wait for Penny to get back in that lineup. Oh man, we just need to keep that guy healthy. Alvarez, protect that man with everything. Make sure nothing ever happens to that guy. Oh, starting pitching, please. Need you, Hunter Brown. Need you other pitchers to come up. Like I said, I can't say enough about Lambert. He's he's he's been spot on. I just wanted to jump on this podcast. Obviously, you can see a lot of you hear a lot of frustration in my voice.

Buyers Mindset Before The All-Star Break

SPEAKER_01 16:55

We still have the rest of the week. We have two more games with the Nationals. Need to win this series. We've won six out of the last seven series. Teams playing better baseball, but we cannot give away games like this. It's a 162-game season, but you always look back when you're trying to get into that playoff spot, you're trying to win that division, and you're like two or three or four games out, or you're you're right there, and then you start thinking about all the games that you gave away early in the season. And we did that this year. It's gotta stop. We've got to be better. This team is better. I know this team's gonna do good. But damn, they upset me some nights, and this is one of those nights. Like I said, they just came off a great series against the Rays. The offense is, like I said, it's smoking mirrors because it's like every third game they just blow up and score eight, ten, twelve runs, and then the next night it's like one run they can score or two, battling to get three or four hits. The offense is overachieving. And the outfield is what what it is right now. It's not a good outfield. It's not a good starting pitching team right now, and that was supposed to be our strength going into this season. Dana Brown said it himself we're gonna be in a lot of two to one games, three to one games, because of our pitching. Well, newsflash, this game was 12-11. Gave up 10 runs the other night, or eight runs the other night to the Rays. I don't care what kind of offense you got, you're not gonna win a lot of games if you're given lots of runs up. That's my news flash to you, Dana. I like what I seen from Aaron Getty the other night. I know Hunter Brown would do all right. I know Tatsuy. A Japanese guy. He's battling. He's showing signs of consistency, but we need more. But it's time to get Christian Javier back in that starting starting pitching lineup. I don't want to see Mike Burroughs in another starting pitching position for a while. The guy's given up like 21 home runs this year. And like 17 starts. That's not good. Now we've got him under contract control for the next four to five years. He's a young guy. Had a decent year with the Pirates last season. But he's still green. He needs some time on the farm. He should be in the minors starting tomorrow. They've been trying to shake up this team with some young guys, calling guys up and down. And I understand it's we're trying to find that missing piece through our farm system. But like I said, August 3rd is the trade deadline. I don't know if we can wait till August 3rd, but we might have to. Hopefully, we're still close in the race. But sooner or later, you got to get going. You got to get going. I'll probably jump on here on Thursday for another podcast because I want to end this week on a positive note. So Astros have a couple of days to get my mind right again. I want a happy Iceman going into the all-star break. Still a chance to get to 500. That's that's the goal. That's the goal I have. We need to get to 500 by the all-star break. I think we got five, six games before the all-star break. I know this team can do it. I'm not giving up. I know you're not giving up. But damn, it's

Final Rally Cry And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_01 21:40

frustrating. I'll see you. Well, I won't see you. I'll talk to you on Thursday. Hopefully, like I said, it's not gonna be a frustrating type podcast. It's gonna be a celeb a celebration podcast. The Astros are winning again. It's been tough. But like I said, like I say, lots of time still left. It's your boy Iceman. And yes, I am in the ice cave. Come on, Dana!

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Get a drink! Welcome to the Ice Cave. Cold facts like the Iceman. Iceman with the building about to open up a cold pink about it over cold drink. Iceman in the building, any topic, we can touch it. Any touching, we can touch it. How you feel what you thought about the ice number out of pocket. Checker. We can call the ice man. What a pet. Ice in the cat. This ain't no cap, son. Ice with the M1. I call up the thousand and out in the case, done. Ice in the case, son. Everything blue like the ice in the cave, son. Ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Ace ice ice in the cave. Ice in the cave.

unknown 23:08

Ice ice in the cave. Ice in the cave.