NERDS AROUND TOWN

Nerds Around Town: Papa Johns pizza, Ryan Reynolds and Harley Quinn

Nerds Around Town: Papa Johns pizza, Ryan Reynolds and Harley Quinn
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 and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!

GOOD DEED OF THE DAY

All right Houston you guys did a great job yesterday! I totally spaced on mentioning the Papa Johns thing where they were raising funds for the fallen officer. They've done this before and for those who know I used to deliver with Papa Johns and they've done this before and when they do it, the city responds and they run out of food and they have to extend the offer. The same thing happened this time, and honestly I'm proud of them and you guys for doing such a great job on this. Props to Papa Johns and to you Houston!

BIRDS OF PREY TRAILER

The first trailer for the Birds of Prey movie dropped and it looks awesome! It's Harley Quinn heavy which I like and it seems to combine a lot of the other elements of Harley Quinn that hadn't yet been touched on in the Suicide Squad. Honestly I love the idea behind this movie and it looks like they are doing a hell of a job putting these characters together and even though this looks nothing like some of the characters, I'm looking at you Cassandra Cain, I'm still super excited about this movie and can't wait to see what's next.

CITY OF BANE

Tom King has been writing what people are hailing as perhaps the greatest Batman run in a few years and he's done some really great stuff, from having Batman and Catwoman get engaged to changing the dynamics with all the sidekicks and it's all coming to an end. Bane has taken over Gotham and organized all the villains under him. Batman has been banned from Gotham and now Alfred is being held hostage or has been killed if you believe the hype. I don't, and now Batman is coming back to retake Gotham. It's time to kick this story into it's final, high gear.

6 UNDERGROUND

Netflix and Michael Bay came together and made what looks like an awesome movie with Ryan Reynolds as the lead. It's an action movie where they go after the "bad guys" of the world, I'm not totally sure who that is or what they're doing exactly, but it looks really cool. Michael Bay makes fun movies, not great movies but fun movies and Ryan Reynolds is good to watch in movies, he's hilarious and has a great screen presence that is undeniable. I'm very interested in this movie, it looks great.

NOT THAT YOU ASKED

So I guess I'm just going to use this space to talk about myself, mostly because it's my column and I feel like someone needs to talk nice about me. I'm just kidding, I just want to speak things into existence, and this is the best way to do it. I had an interview today for a writing project, what's pretty interesting. Without giving any details away a company has hired out a marketing company to help create a comic book to help explain their internal processes and also be used as marketing material when they approach potential clients. I think it's an awesome idea and it fits into my background outside of writing as much as it fits into my passion in comics and writing, so it's a great fit and I hope I get it.

Feel free to check out my brand new comic book Another Day at the Office 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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How significant Astros spring training revelation highlights even more reasons for optimism

The Houston Astros had a very successful season in 2023 which led them back to the ALCS for the seventh-straight season, but despite another deep playoff run, their pitching did regress from the prior year.

While many would point to their historic bullpen in 2022 and say they had nowhere to go but down, that doesn't paint the full picture. It was the starting rotation that really fell off in 2023. Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Hunter Brown, and Jose Urquidy all saw a spike in their ERAs from the previous season.

According to a recent report from The Athletic's Chandler Rome, we might have an explanation for Jose Urquidy's down year.

The Astros and Urquidy believe he was tipping his pitches. Which would explain why the slugging percentage against his fastball jumped from .482 in 2022 to .632 in 2023.

When hitters know a pitcher is tipping, they often start hunting fastballs. Also, his strikeout percentage went down last year and his walks went way up. He had 2 more walks per nine innings in 2023 than he had in 2021.

Part of that could be him aiming for corners and refusing to give in to hitters because his fastball wasn't performing up to expectations.

His WHIP in 2023 really jumped off the page as well. He finished with a WHIP over 1.4. While his career WHIP is 1.143. That's a huge difference.

Back to the big picture

Until last season, Urquidy never finished with an ERA over 3.95. He recorded a 5.29 ERA last year. So when we factor in his shoulder injury that cost him three months of the season, and the fact he was tipping pitches, we believe he's in store for a bounce-back season.

And the Astros are going to need him, especially with Justin Verlander and JP France possibly not being available for the start of the season.

What will the rotation look like early on?

The Astros haven't ruled Verlander out yet, so he could be ready to go. But if not, and we base this off what we saw last season. The rotation will likely include Valdez, Javier, Brown, Urquidy, Ronel Blanco, and Brandon Bielak.

Don't miss the video above for the full discussion!

Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan every Monday on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel.

We'll continue to drop videos throughout the week!


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