NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: New Found Glory, patriotism, instant replay
Jul 10, 2019, 6:52 am
ART BY JESUS RODRIGUEZ
NERDS
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 and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Hey Nerds!
Wednesday is the halfway point and we're there now. Don't let this week slide away from you, let's crush it.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
The Stixx and Stonez Sundresses and Summershirts party is this Saturday and they're having a donation drive, so bring socks for men, women and children as well as toiletries for the needy. It's a good cause and sounds like a heck of a party. Head out there from 3-11p and have a good time on karma's dime.
HYPOCRITE ALERT
So I've been seeing a lot of people mad about the US Women's Soccer team still. A lot of salty memes and a lot of people playing the "patriot" card on them and hating on them for their critical positions of certain things most notably asking for equal pay from US Soccer. Keep in mind many of these people have never cared about soccer ever, but now they're experts. Some people didn't like that a few of the players let the flag fall to the ground and some of the players stood on it. I'm not ok with people walking on the flag, I think that's disrespectful but I also completely respect people's right to want to make a political statement with the flag, believe it or not, America is based on people making political statements. It was a political statement that our founding fathers made when they wrote a letter to a King, it was a political statement when some tea was dumped in a harbor, and it was those political statements that eventually started a revolution that formed our great nation. Forgetting those facts discredits anyone's "patriot" card, they should argue for equal pay, hell they should argue for unequal pay in their favor, they're doing things no one else in the world is doing, and we're having a dumb conversation about revenue? Pay them.
HOT TAKE
If a sport has instant replay, and a set number of challenges per team, then late in the game you need a challenge and you're out of them and the sport lets a bad call stand, why have instant replay? Letting bad calls stand simply because one team is out of challenges or something along those lines, goes totally against the spirit of using instant replay. The NBA is toying with a limited trial run of instant replay and they listed a bunch of things that won't be reviewable like uncalled out of bounds calls, traveling at all, and uncalled fouls or goaltending. What's the point then? If you can't point out that someone went out of bounds and should have been called out or called on a travel or a goaltend that wasn't called, what's the point? This is going to encourage referees to stop games more times because better to call it and be wrong than to not call it and it changes the outcome of a game, you know? This is the wrong way to do it.
NEW FOUND GLORY
New Found Glory is playing at the House of Blues tonight, which is awesome! They were such an important part of my teen years and early twenties. They also were an odd intersection of pop culture, the lead singer married the lead singer of Paramore, then very quickly afterwards they divorced, while they were married, they played a party cruise. I have to think that was a weird party cruise if they were already having problems. Also they just released an album and they cover a song from The Greatest Showman on it, it's such an odd intersection of pop culture this band is in the center of. Anyway, check them out tonight.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
Just a quick tip to the world, White People of the world, you look foolish when you call the cops on black people in public. It's a bad look. Also, stop complaining about fictional characters changing gender or race, they're not real people or things lost, they're fiction. Seriously. Fictional.
Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
What looked like a minor blip after an emotional series win in Los Angeles has turned into something more concerning for the Houston Astros.
Swept at home by a Guardians team that came in riding a 10-game losing streak, the Astros were left looking exposed. Not exhausted, as injuries, underperformance, and questionable decision-making converged to hand Houston one of its most frustrating series losses of the year.
Depth finally runs dry
It would be easy to point to a “Dodger hangover” as the culprit, the emotional peak of an 18-1 win at Chavez Ravine followed by a mental lull. But that’s not the story here.
Houston’s energy was still evident, especially in the first two games of the series, where the offense scored five or more runs each time. Including those, the Astros had reached that mark in eight of their last 10 games heading into Wednesday’s finale.
But scoring isn’t everything, not when a lineup held together by duct tape and desperation is missing Christian Walker and Jake Meyers and getting critical at-bats from Cooper Hummel, Zack Short, and other journeymen.
The lack of depth finally showed. The Astros, for three days, looked more like a Triple-A squad with Jose Altuve and a couple big-league regulars sprinkled in.
Cracks in the pitching core
And the thing that had been keeping this team afloat, elite pitching, finally buckled.
Hunter Brown and Josh Hader, both dominant all season, finally cracked. Brown gave up six runs in six innings, raising his pristine 1.82 ERA to 2.21. Hader wasn’t spared either, coughing up a game-losing grand slam in extra innings that inflated his ERA from 1.80 to 2.38 in one night.
But the struggles weren’t isolated. Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort, and Steven Okert each gave up runs at critical moments. The bullpen’s collective fade could not have come at a worse time for a team already walking a tightrope.
Injury handling under fire
Houston’s injury management is also drawing heat, and rightfully so. Jake Meyers, who had been nursing a calf strain, started Wednesday’s finale. He didn’t even make it through one pitch before aggravating the injury and needing to be helped off the field.
No imaging before playing him. No cautionary rest despite the All-Star break looming. Just a rushed return in a banged-up lineup, and it backfired immediately.
Second-guessing has turned to outright criticism of the Astros’ medical staff, as fans and analysts alike wonder whether these mounting injuries are being made worse by how the club is handling them.
Pressure mounts on Dana Brown
All eyes now turn to Astros GM Dana Brown. The Astros are limping into the break with no clear reinforcements on the immediate horizon. Only Chas McCormick is currently rehabbing in Sugar Land. Everyone else? Still sidelined.
Brown will need to act — and soon.
At a minimum, calling up top prospect Brice Matthews makes sense. He’s been mashing in Triple-A (.283/.400/.476, 10 HR, .876 OPS) and could play second base while Jose Altuve shifts to left field more regularly. With Mauricio Dubón stretched thin between shortstop and center, injecting Matthews’ upside into the infield is a logical step.
*Editor's note: The Astros must be listening, Matthews was called up Thursday afternoon!
The Astros are calling up Brice Matthews, their top prospect on @MLBPipeline
via @brianmctaggart pic.twitter.com/K91cGKkcx6
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 10, 2025
There’s also trade chatter, most notably about Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, but excitement has been tepid. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but compared to who the Astros are fielding now, Mullins would be a clear upgrade and a much-needed big-league presence.
A final test before the break
Before the All-Star reset, Houston gets one last chance to stabilize the ship, and it comes in the form of a rivalry series against the Texas Rangers. The Astros will send their top trio — Lance McCullers Jr., Framber Valdez, and Hunter Brown — to the mound for a three-game set that will test their resolve, their health, and perhaps their postseason aspirations.
The Silver Boot is up for grabs. So is momentum. And maybe, clarity on just how far this version of the Astros can go.
There's so much more to discuss! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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*ChatGPT assisted.
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