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.
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Texans HC DeMeco Ryans reveals what he values most at scouting combine
Feb 28, 2025, 3:51 pm
Now that spring training is officially underway, we're able to make some observations about how the Astros 2025 roster is taking shape.
Houston's starting rotation is basically set, but we got to see Hayden Wesneski make his first start in an Astro uniform. Wesneski pitched two innings against the Mets on Tuesday, allowing one run with three strikeouts.
He's working on a curveball that's a new pitch for his repertoire, and he saw some success with it. Hopefully, adding this pitch will help keep batters off balance (especially left-handed hitters) and help elevate his game. Which is nothing new for the Astros, who have a history of helping pitchers get to the next level.
Forrest Whitley also looked good, pitching a clean inning and finishing off his final hitter with a 97 mph fastball. Whitley finally realizing his potential in the big leagues could be a huge deal for the Astros, as they're looking to lighten the workload for Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader this season.
Hader in particular could benefit from this adjustment, as he was much worse when pitching in non-save situations last season. An easy fix with Hader could be trying to limit his workload to mostly save situations. That way, you get the most out of him and achieve the goal of him pitching less innings this year.
The Houston Chronicle's Matt Kawahara wrote about Hader's struggles pitching when games were tied or Houston was trailing.
“Hader converted 34 of 38 save chances but faced more batters in non-save situations (142) than in save situations (136), a sharp pivot from his previous few seasons. Opponents slugged .271 against him in save situations and .411 in non-save situations, while his ERA was more than two runs higher (4.98) in the latter.”
And while it's easy to say “suck it up, you're getting paid a fortune to pitch,” if he's not having success in those situations, and you're looking to back off his workload, this seems like an obvious way to pivot. He's under contract for another four seasons, so the Astros are right to want to be careful with him.
Astros plate discipline
Manager Joe Espada has made it very clear that he would like his offense to see more pitches this season. And we're seeing a stark difference in the approaches from the newly acquired players (Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker) and Houston's returning hitters.
Keep in mind, Paredes was first in pitches per plate appearance last season, and Walker was 10th.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that Paredes and Walker both worked a full count in their first at-bats on Tuesday, while Mauricio Dubon, Yainer Diaz, and Chas McCormick swung at every pitch in their first at-bats.
Hopefully the new blood in the clubhouse will rub off on the rest of the Astros lineup, which is full of free swingers, especially with Alex Bregman now playing for Boston.
Which is why we're so excited about Cam Smith's early results. While we're super pumped about his two home runs on Tuesday, we're equally impressed that he walked in his first two at-bats this spring. If anyone would naturally be jumping out of their shoes to make a strong first impression, you would think it's the guy that was traded for Kyle Tucker. But Smith was patient, and he was rewarded for it.
What is Dana Brown saying privately?
Just last offseason, Brown was talking about extending Tucker and Bregman while also signing Hader to a shocking 5-year, $95 million deal. Plus, the team signed Jose Altuve to a whopping $150 million extension. Fast-forward one year and Tucker has been traded, Bregman left in free agency, and Ryan Pressly was dealt in a salary dump. Safe to say, his vision for the ball club has changed drastically in one season. Welcome to baseball economics under Jim Crane!
We're just scratching the surface on everything covered in the video above. Be sure to hit play to watch the full conversation!
The countdown to Opening Day is on. 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. Click here to catch!
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