Houston Astros Sweep Rangers And Take First Place

Ice Man breaks down how the Houston Astros sweep the Texas Rangers, grab the AL West lead, and start looking like the hottest team in baseball again. We also look ahead to Toronto and the trade deadline, where one move could turn a win streak into a real playoff push. 
• Sweeping the Rangers and locking up Silver Boot bragging rights 
• Why winning baseball shows up in pitching, middle relief, and smart managing 
• The stats behind the surge, including run totals and the division lead 
• Who’s hottest at the plate, with shoutouts to Alvarez, Peña, Altuve, Diaz and more 
• Why the Blue Jays series feels like a deadline-week pressure test 
• Trade deadline rumors, potential buyers talk, and the George Springer angle 
• That we want most in a deal, including a starter and a left-handed outfield bat 
I want you to listen to this podcast. 
Get behind these Astros. 

Transcript

Welcome To The Ice Cave

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the ice case. Cold facts like the ice case. Ice man with the blitz about to open up a cold case. Talk about it with a cold drink. Ice man in the building topic talk about the black. And this drill is number out of pocket. Ice today with Iceland. We can call it Iceland House. We are filled in it.

Rangers Sweep Sparks A Surge

SPEAKER_01 0:27

The Houston Astros sweep the Texas Rangers. That's right. We are on a sixth game winning streak. Handled up on the Angels. I told you on Thursday, this was an important series with the Texas Rangers. We needed to bring our A game, and the Astros brought their A game. We sweep the Texas Rangers. We own the Texas Rangers. We are their daddy. I think this is ten seasons in a row that we won the silver boot. And the silver boot is the series, the interrivalry between Texas and Houston. The battle of the state. But we got bigger plans. Don't look now, but these Houston National are shooting for another playoff run. They scored 23 runs in this series. That's over seven and a half games of seven and a half runs a game. The Houston Astros lead the American League West. They are now the first place Houston Astros. They lead the AL West by two and a half games. 58 and 55 is the record. The Astros are 11 and 1 since getting swept after the All-Star break. They have the third best record since the All-Star break. But don't look now. The Astros only they're only two games behind in the majors for the second seed. Winning cures all. And that's what the Astros are doing right now. They are winning. They are playing winning baseball. That's all you can ask for this team is playing winning baseball. They're the hottest team in baseball. They have the best hitter on the planet.

Trade Deadline Pressure Builds

SPEAKER_01 2:49

I mean, that doesn't mean the club is going to sit on its hands with this trade deadline coming up at 5 p.m. on Monday. We'll get to that. But the Astros are clicking on all cylinders, pitching, clutch hidden. Not so clutch today, but they did enough today to win. Middle relief. Hadra's doing his job. Coaching is great. Pushing the right buttons. Another big series coming in into Houston, and that's the Toronto Blue Jays. Just saying. Three-game series. Six-game winning streak. Let's go for seven. And it's very interesting that the Toronto Blue Jays are in town at the trade deadline. We'll get to the to the trade deadline rumors. But it could involve Springer coming over from the other dugout to his old home dugout. Just like Carlos Correa came home last year. Speaking of, there's a slight chance that Correa might be back before the uh the end of the season. But George Springer is rumored to be on the block. He's in Houston. Why not, Dana Brown? Joe Espada says right now the Asp are just playing their best baseball. Just from the top to the bottom on both sides, pitching and hitting. The Asp have just posted back-to-back sweeps. The Houston offense posted a 1091 OPS in this suite. They outscored the Rangers 23-9. They asked uh Peter Lambert today what kind of statement did the Astros make in this Blown

Players Leading The Hot Streak

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Star suite. His response, I think a pretty strong one. Peter Lambert, our pitcher, has become our ace. Young pitcher. Just going out there and doing his things. He held the Rangers at two runs a day on three hits. He had two walks. He struck out eight. He pitched five two-thirds of an inning. But it's a team effort. The middle relief is coming in and doing its job. It was great to see Alvarez get hot again. He's been hot all year. Like I said, he's the MVP. He's the best major league baseball player on the planet right now. He went four for five today. A couple of doubles. Jeremy Pinja's still doing his thing. Hit a laser home run to the Crawford Boxes. I like what Isak Perettis is doing. Christian Walker's uh showing signs. He had another hit today. Trammel's been hot of lately. Good job, Taylor Trammell. He's picked his average up with some good clutch hitting. Jose Altuvi had two hits today. Had a few hits the other day. His average is creeping back up. Cam Smith is on the row. Young Cam Smith plays a great right field, and he's on the streak right now. He's hitting the ball very hard right now. He went three for five today. A lot of key pieces. Yannair Diaz the other night had four hits. I think he had three hits on Saturday. Some key components. It's the entire team. Hunter Brown is pitching great. Javier's pitching great. It looks like we're gonna probably be some buyers at the trade deadline. I would almost guarantee that there will be a trade tomorrow or Monday. I am recording this late on a Sunday night, so technically it is Monday. But I did want to get this podcast out at 10 a.m. So you have to do what you gotta do. And that's exactly what the Bastros are doing. They are doing what they got to do. Big series with the Blue Jays. Every series is big right now. Take each game at a time. We go from six-game winning streak to seven-game winning streak. Then we concentrate on eight, and then we go nine. We might go undefeated the rest of the year. A little sarcasm there.

Targets And Rumors To Watch

SPEAKER_01 8:40

But like I said, Astros are going to be buyers here today at 5 p.m. will be the trade deadline time when all trades have to be finalized. I do see the Astros making a trade. There's rumors out there about Kyle Stowers. First baseman. Got a lot of pop in his bat. I don't know if Christian Walker has to be a part of this trade, but from what I'm hearing from the Astros, they don't want to get rid of any of their core players that are that it is on the major league roster. They do have a few assets in the minors. But I don't know if we can get it done just with minor league players. I would like to see a starting pitcher in in a trade. And I think this time we've been asking for the for the last few years to get a left-handed bat for the outfield that can produce. I think that's happening today. But keep your eyes on the George Springer rumor, too, also. Monday should be a very busy day for the major leagues. Lots of rumors will be swirling. Aspield to have a game at 7.10. Try to go to the game, but definitely watch the game. I'll be watching it in the ice cave tomorrow. Well, as of Monday. Like I said, I am shooting this podcast late into the evening of Sunday.

Why We Record And When

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Because I do want this out very early tomorrow. I want you to listen to this podcast. I appreciate all the support that I'm getting. I'm consistent on putting them out on Mondays at 10 a.m. And I'm consistent on Thursdays at 10 a.m. Maybe 3 p.m. on Thursdays. But I'm up to two a week. We're getting close to that time where it might be just a random podcast come through. I don't do this for the money. I do it for the passion of the game. You can hear the passion in my voice. I'm a diehard use of an Astro fan.

Division Outlook And Belief

SPEAKER_01 11:20

This team is a dynasty from the last 10 years. They keep trying to count the Astros out year after year after year. But here we are with about 50 games left, and we are in first place again. By two and a half games. At one time, this team was 11 games under 500. May, June, and July, we played over 500 ball. We're winning series. And in July, we've gotten consistent. And we're rolling right into August with it. My thoughts are that the Astros will win this division. The American League is not that strong this year. We really have a very good chance to be the number two seed in this division in the American League. But we'll take them a series at a time. I can't wait for the Toronto game. I can't wait to watch these Astros play the baseball that they're playing. But mark my words on this, I think there's gonna be a few new players on this team before the first pitch. So if you're on Twitter, or if you're on ESPN app, any type baseball app, any type social media, keep hitting refresh on your phone tomorrow. Or today. However you want to look at it. It's after midnight on a Sunday, so I'm gonna call it Monday. I might even pop in after the game tomorrow night with a quick podcast to talk about the trade that I think's gonna happen. Or trades that will happen. Dana Brown, we can't sit still. We got one more run in us. We gotta make it happen. I hear they are in the war room at Dakon Park over there. The phones are ringing, they're talking to people. Might be a big boom tomorrow. Might be something mediocre, but a trade will happen. I can't wait to get this podcast out. I'm excited. I knew you're excited. I'm seeing all the Houston fans get behind this team again. And when we are Clutch City, and we are the Houston Astros, we have a reason to believe.

Final Rally Cry And Signoff

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Once again, how sweep it is. I'm your boy Iceman. I'll talk to you here soon.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Get behind these Astros. Welcome to the Ice K colfax on stage. I did that. No idea that must be with a pet. Ice in the cat. No one to move it because they know cats, son. Ice with the air one. I call up the fountain and out in the cage, done. Ice in the cave, son. Everything blue like the lights in the cave, son. Ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Ice ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Ace ice ice ice in the cave. Ice in the cave. Ice in the cave.