THE NERD REPORT
Nerds Around Town: Cancer sucks, mountain bikes and...cricket?
May 13, 2019, 6:22 am
ART BY JESUS RODRIGUEZ
Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio, Sports and Wrestling. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Hey Nerds!
It's once again the most important day of the week, it is Monday! So let's set this week up for success and make sure that we crush this week!
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
This week, we're going to scale it back a little bit and get personal again. One of my buddies, a guy I've had many crazy drinking adventures with is having a benefit thrown for him to help him pay for dealing with cancer. Exit 73 will be hosting a BBQ benefit event this Sunday May 19th, starting at noon. There will be live music, you'll be able to buy plates of food and there will be an auction, all of this being done to benefit Michael Almendarez and help him deal with his battle with cancer. Guy is married with three daughters, it's a real issue to be sick these days and it's just unfortunate. #NerdsUnite
COMICPALOOZA WAS THIS WEEKEND!
Oh man, it was an absolutely amazing weekend. I hosted three panels with my Nerd Thug Radio team, we had an absolute blast. I interviewed Kim Phan, Director of Global eSports for Blizzard, because ESPN was there hosting the first ever College eSports Championships which I will write more in depth about elsewhere. Emilia Clarke was awesome, she stayed late everyday so everyone could get their pictures in and talk to her and have the rewarding fun fan moment that people hope to experience when they pay for those extra things. Overall it was an amazing experience and even though I work these events I also am still a massive nerd and enjoy the hell out of these things and have my fun fanboy moments. I hope I don't live long enough for this to ever get boring.
TWO WHEELS NOT TWO FEET!
While I was walking what had to have been literally 40 plus miles over this three day weekend, the event is all three floors from end to end of the convention center, I started thinking how awesome it would be to bike around on the convention floor. By day two this joking became an intense desire to not be walking what seemed to be a million steps and I googled best mountain bikes under $500, not realizing how many variations and kinds of bikes exists these days. I didn't realize there was more than like one or two bike styles. When did this happen? When was the revolution on bike variations and what was I doing instead that week? Anyway, see if you can name more than three types of mountain bikes, seriously, try it.
SIGH, I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M EVEN TYPING THIS...
Listeners of Nerd Thug Radio have probably heard my co-host Joey Savage mention once or twice that due to him watching a Netflix documentary one night when he couldn't sleep, he is now a cricket fan. He's been yelling out nonsense like "sixer!" sporadically over the last eight weeks and I have no clue what's going on honestly. His team of choice is the Mumbai Indians and apparently they were in the Indian Premier League finals, which was probably important to all of sports betting India but not so much to me, they did win by 1 though, so that's cool. Sometimes I think it wouldn't surprise me to find out he was so low for a gambling fix that he wasn't searching India horse racing sites for a fix like an addict. Honestly he yells "sixer!" at the weirdest times…
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
Ok last time I'm going to mention this honestly, tomorrow we move on to new business but even the massive, awful rains couldn't keep people away from Comicpalooza. Overall I'm super proud of our city, Houston represented itself well, the floor had a great positive vibe, the stars were friendly, the events were great there was a ton of stuff to do. For those who don't know the city of Houston has been involved in the convention for the past few years and took it over completely last year and honestly they didn't do the best job running it. They more than made up for it this year, they did a good job with the kinds of guests they brought and the kind of vendors they brought it in. It can be a really tricky thing when a convention doesn't go right, I've worked events where things have been an issue, ask me in person, I have some stories, but thankfully this one went great.
I'm going to jump out and wish you guys a great Monday and remind everyone to be kind to each other and try a little harder to have a great day! I'm coming back Tuesday and we'll be bringing more good times your way. Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help fight cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio or support our Patreon Page. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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Counting up "should win" and "should lose" results is routinely a fool's errand. That said, the Astros enter a stretch which features a bunch of "should win" games. On one hand, beginning this weekend at Daikin Park, the Astros run a gauntlet of 10 games in 10 days, then after an off day, they play another 13 days in a row. On the other hand, over the first 17 games of the 23 in 24 days, the Astros play 14 of them against losing teams: seven vs. the American League East cellar-dwelling Baltimore Orioles, three vs. the utter joke Colorado Rockies, and four vs. the not awful but below .500 Los Angeles Angels. Additionally, the Astros get 10 of those 14 games at home.
The only good team they face until after Labor Day is Detroit, with three games at the Tigers next week. That series looms large. If the Astros are successful in fending off Seattle and yet again winning the American League West, they have a real shot of finishing even with or ahead of Toronto and Detroit. Finishing with the best record in the AL is the ideal, but having the second -best record among the division winners means a bye past the high peril best-of-three first round series. The Astros' 2024 postseason was over in an eyeblink because they had the third-best record of the AL division champs, and then had the Tigers dismiss them in two games.
If the Astros can take two of three in Motown next week, they not only gain ground on the Tigers, but clinch the season series (Astros beat the Tigers two of three in Houston back in April) and with it the tiebreaker should that come into play for playoff seeding. The Astros swept the Blue Jays three straight earlier this year, so winning just one of three games in Canada next month would secure that tiebreaker.
Growing pains
Big picture, it's been a fine rookie season for Cam Smith. Nothing special, but plenty acceptable for a guy with just 32 games of minor league experience before earning/being handed the primary right field job coming out of spring training. Smith's tools and athleticism are clear, so are a couple of holes in his game that need patching if he is to develop into a star. The standards are different for a rookie making the minimum MLB salary of 760-thousand dollars versus a big ticket free agent signing making 20 million dollars, but a higher percentage of Smith's official at bats have ended with strikeouts this season than have Christian Walker's.
Along with improving his rate of contact, Smith needs to tweak his swing path to hit the ball in the air more. With his strength Cam can hit it hard. But hard grounders aren't the objective. Cam has a pair of two-home run games this season. In late June he homered in back-to-back games. In the other 100 games Smith has played, he has just one other homer. One in 100 games. His last dinger was June 28. 138 at bats later he's still sitting on seven for the season. Mauricio Dubon and Taylor Trammell have higher slugging percentages, as did Zack Short in his limited time with the team.
Smith has been feeble since just before the All-Star break, posting a paltry 13 hits in his last 90 at bats for a .144 batting average. He figures to play less down the stretch, a lot less should Yordan Alvarez actually return to the lineup. If ever back, Alvarez figures to slot only as the designated hitter, reducing Jose Altuve's DH opportunities. When Altuve plays left field, Jesus Sanchez is the clear better option to play right against righthanded pitching.
Jose Altuve at his best
Credit to manager Joe Espada for realizing that Altuve at 35 years old needed his load lightened. Should have happened last year, but live and learn. Altuve has been the DH 35 times this season (just five times last year). It is highly likely not a coincidence that after a hot start last year, Altuve was mediocre the last three-quarters of 2024 with a .740 OPS over his final 119 games. This season Altuve started atrociously. He was a straight up lousy player into late-May, waking May 22 with his batting average .238 and his OPS a woeful .629 over 47 games played. In 70 games since: .316/.947. In his 2017 AL Most Valuable Player season Altuve finished with a .957 OPS.
Astros HOF weekend
The Astros retire Hall of Famer Billy Wagner's number 13 Saturday. 12 players wore 13 after Wagner's time in Houston ended. They do not exactly comprise a Who's Who of Astros lore. Tyler White may have been the best of the dozen. Hey, I said the pickings were slim! Cooper Hummel goes down as the last to wear 13 as an Astro in an official game. Hummel wore 13 last season, before being assigned number 16 when he rejoined the team this season.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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