NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: The Clowney Saga continues, more Spidey drama and extreme yoga
Aug 30, 2019, 6:31 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!
I hope this week went as well as you wanted it to, if not get 'em next week!
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
In honor of college kids going back to school, I want you to look on facebook find one of your teacher friends and click on their Amazon wishlist. They're all doing it this year, they all should be doing it this year except that education is the most important thing in the world for children and we as a society should care more to educate them, poor or rich, white, black or brown. We should be teaching them how to think and ask questions and let them make this world a better place since obviously we don't know how.
TEXANS BAD, DOLPHINS BAD
To continue the Clowney drama we touched on yesterday, the Miami Dolphins have apparently made everything worse. We've been in talks to trade Clowney to them and we apparently are insisting on OT Laremy Tunsil, which according to players on the Dolphins will cause a revolt. The Dolphins have a rookie head coach and it sounds like he might not have total control of this franchise yet and honestly there's no clear answer on what that means exactly but you don't want to hear that if you're a coach. Football is the ultimate team sport to borrow every sport cliché, and the reality is it does require 100% buy in from the players. So if they're not behind the coach or if they're doubting the organization, there's no chance for this season.
HAVING A BAD DAY
Apparently, in Mexico an Instagram influencer was doing yoga on a patio balcony six stories up and then fell. She survived but they say her knees and ankles will need to be restructured and that it'll take over three years to get back 100%. Having dealt with my own personal crazy leg injury, I'll tell you this, there is no worse experience than a long, hard rehab where you can only do a few hours of work a day and then you're stuck the rest of the day in bed. Time becomes the enemy and there is no way to make it go faster. I'm not going to be overly mean, it was a dumb thing to do, people are doing dumb things for attention all the time but honestly there's nothing I can say that's worse than what she's dealing with. Also, lots of people die every year taking selfies, like an embarrassingly high number… maybe we should start putting the phones down?
WEB OF SPIDER MAN
Word broke yesterday that Tom Holland filmed a scene in the movie Venom but Marvel flipped their lid and demanded it be deleted. This adds another layer to the whole Disney-Sony feud to me, it starts to paint the level of control that Marvel wanted to exercise over Spider-man. They may be right and they may not be, it's tough to know until we see the scene and find out what was in it. Was it bad? Was it good? Was it a mess? There's literally no way to know but it does start to paint Marvel in a bad light.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
My fantasy football draft is this weekend, this is where championships happen boys. Step one is drafting like a champion. We got this!!
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.
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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