THE NERD REPORT
Nerds around town: Comicpalooza, streaming wars, esports and more
May 6, 2019, 10:17 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!
Awww yeah, it's Monday!!! Get pumped and get excited for the beginning of the week, this is the most important part of the week because a great Monday means your whole week is great.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
This is a new one it dots all my "I"s and crosses all my "t"s, it's called "Crits for Cancer." Crits as in critical rolls, as in Dungeons and Dragons. These guys find people in need who are suffering from cancer and they go out of their way to try and help to raise money for the kids through the thing that everyone loves, Dungeons and Dragons! You have to check these guys out, it's for a great cause and you're going to feel really good about yourself and really nerdy, it's a win-win. #NerdsUnite
COMICPALOOZA WEEK!
Well it's here, it's Comicpalooza week. This is like my Superbowl if it was a week long and even more awesome. Today I'm going to focus on the guests that are coming, Emilia Clarke, Nathalie Emmanuel, Grant Gustin, Wilmer Valderrama and so many more. I'm excited because the Mother of Dragons is a big freakin' deal. That's a big relevant celebrity here for the event. Also the main cast of The Tick are here as well, and I have a little inside information on this just to explain to people how big of a deal this whole thing is. Very early this year, with my day job at Nerd Thug Radio, we talked to some people potentially about booking a very large show in a certain convention center not in Houston. So I reached out to the booking agents to some of these people and I came upon the idea of having the cast of The Tick come in for the event, that would be a great get I felt like. I was told by their booking agent that while the other actors live in the states and would be reasonable to get, Peter Serafinowicz lives in England and wouldn't come over to the states to do a smaller event like the one I was planning. So Comicpalooza is big enough to be on his booking agent's radar as a big enough show to justify the cost of bringing in The Tick himself. Which is pretty sweet.
THE LATEST IN THE STREAMING WARS
The latest news out of the streaming wars is interesting. It looks like Disney+ is planning to go ahead and order a second season of The Mandalorian and bring back series creator, showrunner and executive producer Jon Favreau. It must be testing well or the dailies must be looking great because no one has even seen an actual trailer for the show let alone do we know that it will be available day one with the network, so it's a lot of confidence to put into a show with a large production costs, but perhaps this is on purpose, to help save some of the costs, although at least initially it seems unlikely that costs will be a large factor of concern for Disney+. The first goal is get subscribers, then start analyzing budgets after you've built up a base and know what your service can afford. That is essentially how Netflix operated the past few years and it has helped its growth tremendously. The other bit of streaming news is that Netflix just dropped the highest grossing movie this year in China, "The Wandering Earth" without any prep work or even putting it on upcoming lists. I suspect this is to test the viability of these projects which are essentially new content here in the states without marketing support. In other words, Netflix is curious how much press it needs to generate for these projects, to see if it's worth the money, the less they have to advertise, the happier they'll be.
THE DISAPPOINTMENT CONTINUES
The Houston Outlaws have lost again. This is a franchise that is struggling to find it's footing for the last three stages of the first season and now through two stages of Season two. The team isn't working well together, the coaching staff seems to fail in its scouting and preparation for its opponents and there doesn't seem to be enthusiasm from the players as they are sitting there playing the games. Ultimately this seems to all come from one root issue, The Houston Outlaws are currently up for sale already. I'm not sure how this happened, who wasn't financially prepared for year two in a start up league, but none the less, here we are. The culture seems to be happily settled in mediocrity, actually technically worse than mediocrity because with twenty teams they are near the bottom of the league. The hope is that new ownership will invest in the team, get the coaches we need, make some strong team chemistry decisions and we'll go from there. That would be a great restart to a franchise that started so well but has so quickly fallen to the bottom of the league.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
Once again, officiating is in the headlines again. With the winner of the Kentucky Derby being the horse who finished second due to an officiating decision that disqualified the horse that crossed the line first and crossed with a good lead mind you. Also the two minute report came out for the Rocket's game three win over the Warriors and it pointed out two Houston fouls this time. The reason it's silly is because the story can't seem to shift back to the basketball of the series because the referees keep making it about them. I think the poor officiating is become a real problem and I'm also very concerned about this Rockets team winning if they are going to keep having stretches where they go ice cold from the three point line.
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 $.50 from every shirt is donated to a good cause 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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So it’s A.J. Hinch managing the team that will try to eliminate the Astros in the best-of-three Wild Card Series that opens Tuesday at Minute Maid Park. That’s certainly a notable storyline as Hinch battles tactically with his former bench coach Joe Espada, in facing the franchise he managed to the 2017 World Series Championship, and the franchise that fired him 26 months later after Hinch’s complicity in the Astros’ cheating scandal came to light.
As covered in the most recent column, momentum means nothing heading into this series. That’s a good thing because the Tigers stormed down the stretch with a 31-11 record before pretty much no-showing their last two games against the laughingstock White Sox after Friday night celebrating securing their first playoff spot since 2014. Had the Tigers won one of them the Astros would be playing the Kansas City Royals. Oh well. It’s not like the Royals would have been a significantly easier opponent, if easier at all.
Tarik Skubal vs. Framber Valdez
Apart from Yordan Alvarez’s sprained knee rendering dubious his ability to perform entering the postseason, the biggest “uh oh” for the Astros going into the shortest of playoff series is facing Tigers’ ace Tarik Skubal in game one. With due credit to the brilliant season of Guardians’ closer Emmanuel Clase, any American League Cy Young vote for any one other than Skubal is stupid. He went 18-4, leading the AL in earned run average at 2.39, and in strikeouts with 228 in 192 innings pitched. MLB hit just .201 with a puny OPS of .558 vs. Skubal this season. Among other things, 18-4 means he’s beatable. The Astros gave Skubal one of his four losses, putting up four earned runs in six and one-third innings. The Astros won that game 4-0, with Hunter Brown throwing seven shutout innings in his hometown. Which raises another point. Skubal could be outstanding Tuesday yet have Framber Valdez outpitch him.
It will feel like if the Astros beat Skubal in game one the series is over. That is a foolhardy concept. Of course the Tigers could win games two and three.
Brown will go for the Astros in game two, and if there is a decisive game three Thursday the ball goes to Yusei Kikuchi. Ronel Blanco looms as a multi-inning bullpen threat in one game of the series. If a reliever is needed before getting to the back end of Bryan Abreu, Ryan Pressly, and Josh Hader, Blanco is the best pitcher available and a better option than Hector Neris or anyone else.
The Tigers' game two starter would have been Jack Flaherty, except they dealt him to the Dodgers at the trade deadline. That’s another fact that makes the Tigers’ surge amazing. Second season man Reese Olson probably goes for the Tigers in game two. Brown rates a huge edge over him though in one game, as ever, you never know. If a game three, Hinch likely starts John Brieske, but with a short leash. An X-factor at Hinch’s disposal at least once in the series is Jackson Jobe, considered by many the best starting pitching prospect yet to start in the Majors. The Tigers called up Jobe for his big league debut the final week of the regular season. The 22-year-old righthander with a 101 miles-per-hour fastball pitched in four innings over two games. He gave up one hit and no runs.
Not so fast!
Reading much into Tigers’ season-long statistics is done at one’s own risk. The Tigers awoke August 11 at 55-63. They have since played as if a mostly different team. A handful of points…
Shortstop Javier Baez’s season-ending back injury was a Tiger blessing because Hinch couldn’t play him anymore. Baez has been sub-pathetic since the Tigers moronically gave him a six year 140 million dollar contract after Carlos Correa said “no thanks” to Detroit’s 10 year 275 million dollar offer after the 2021 season. It’s not as if anyone is confusing replacement Trey Sweeney with Alan Trammell, but his play has been much better than the rotting corpse production Baez was giving. The Tigers got Sweeney in the Flaherty deal with the Dodgers and called him August 16.
Oh, Sweeney is cousins with actress Sydney Sweeney. Think anyone will have eyes out for her Tuesday?
The Tigers’ other middle infielder is also a rookie. They gave the second base job to Colt Keith out of spring training and he looked utterly overmatched the first month-plus of the season. Over his first 30 games Keith hit .152 with an impossibly feeble .399 OPS. Well, he figured out stuff. From May 6 forward Keith has been a better player than Jose Altuve.
The Astros start lefty Valdez in game one and if a game three fellow lefty Kikuchi. The Tigers' two best offensive players bat left-handed…and poorly vs. southpaws. 24-year-old Tiger All-Star Riley Greene is a stud. But vs. lefties he hit just .213 with a .693 OPS. Kerry Carpenter has by far the Tigers’ best batting rate stats. Thing is, he hardly even plays against lefties. Carpenter has a .930 OPS overall. Against lefties: three for 28 (.107 average) with 10 strikeouts. Does Hinch try him against Valdez and/or Kikuchi?
No big upset is possible in a best-of-three. Of course the Astros are favored. Rightfully so given their pedigree coupled with the Tigers’ inexperience, and the Astros are the home team in every game. But the Tigers won 86 games to the Astros’ 88, and the AL Central was a better division than the West. The Cleveland Guardians await the winner for the start of a best-of-five American League Division Series Saturday.
Be sure to watch the video above for our full breakdown of Astros vs.Tigers!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday). There will be extra editions during the postseason. Find all via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.