NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Rain, terrible NFL and Batman Day
Sep 20, 2019, 7:49 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 and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
I had been talking about a walk to fight melanoma called Steps For Melanoma Walk, but given the weather the last few days, the more important thing in the near immediate future is to focus on your friends and neighbors and local charities. Make sure everyone is dry and fed and warm this weekend.
WATER WOES
So when are we going to have the very honest conversation about the climate? I don't know a way to beat around the bush on this anymore, Houston is flooding regularly now. We've over-developed all of our drainage and water absorption away to the point that now we retain water all the time. On top of poor planning that is decades in the works (so we can't/won't blame any one party for it, it's us, Houston has been ignoring water run offs forever) the storms are getting larger and more powerful and more devastating in ways that are hard to even fathom. Over fourteen years ago our fun neighbors to the east, New Orleans, suffered their own catastrophic flooding and we were able to help them but we complained about taking on the residents and what our city "turned" into, all while ignoring the real lessons. Cities have to be able to handle the storms, and yet, 14 years later we're flooding and looking to Washington for help like it's their job to bail out our inability to learn a lesson. We complained about Louisiana's inability to properly handle their funds and infrastructure and yet, here we are, swimming for our lives.
BAD NFL
There are some dramatically bad teams in the NFL right now and the Titans and the Jaguars are two of those awful teams and this game last night was some bad football. Also on a side note, I have Fournette on my fantasy team and he lets himself get tackled 9 yards out after a terrible game?! C'mon man! Also it says a lot about Nike and the helmet company that they both dropped Antonio Brown the Patriots haven't and the NFL hasn't benched him. The fact that he didn't pay this girl $2 million dollars to settle confidentially may have been right ethically for him (I have no knowledge of facts in this case, simply speaking hypothetically) but it clearly was a poor business decision and sometimes these guys need better advice. I talk about good advice all the time and this guy is clearly in need of it.
DRAMA IN THE INDUSTRY
It's rare when a story is just full of awful people all around but the feud between Rob Liefeld and Terrific Production LLC fits that bill for me. Rob Liefeld has long been the Rockstar or the upstart of the comic book industry, regularly finding himself in the center of the several of the big dramatic moments in the comic book industry's history. Some great like the founding of Image Comics, which changed comic books for the better, to feuding with creators to being the guy who had his own Levi jean's commercial (true story). He was cashing million dollar checks as 19 year old comic creator and now has lost the rights to one of his biggest creations through poor decision making. The guy who has it has started up Terrific Production LLC and he seems like an absolute looney tune. He has done literally everything in the most inefficient and unproductive ways, insulting creators and seeming to know nothing about the climate of current comic books. It's been fun to watch.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
Come hang out with me tomorrow afternoon at The Adventure Begins for Batman Day. It's going to be awesome! There will be a flippin' Batmobile there. Seriously.
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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It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
We have 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!
*ChatGPT assisted.
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