NERDS AROUND TOWN
Nerds Around Town: Youngblood, Donating Blood and ELeague
Aug 5, 2019, 6:37 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!
It's now officially August, let's get this month going strong as we start to wind the year down.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
As a reaction to this traumatic and crazy weekend, I'm asking people to give blood and give the gift of life. Find your local blood donation center and donate. Check in with the Regional Gulf Coast Blood Center, and donate blood if you can and are able, and apparently its free ice cream month thanks to Blue Bell Ice Cream. So that's nice.
ELEAGUE?
Friday night, TBS aired another episode their ELEAGUE series. Consistently they've been covering most of the big tournaments. Covering things like Injustice 2 and Street Fighter as well as the bigger Counterstrike tourneys amongst other coverage. This week they were airing Gears of War 5 preview event, the game is now out yet and this event was meant to be an attention getting, big time event. Well through the first 45 minutes of the episode there has been almost NO game footage. Tons of snippets but they haven't aired a single match at all. This show has been a consistently good watch for competitive gaming, but this episode I'm not sure if Microsoft has asked them to withhold game footage until the game release or something, but it's disappointing how little of the actual matches they're airing. It's a far step down from the Overwatch coverage ESPN/Disney XD has been doing.
SUPPORT INDY STUFF
This guy Brian reached out to me and bought my comic book so I checked out his independent comic brand, Dojo Kun Comics. It's a combined universe of heroes and characters with some great art and some awesome covers. One cool thing about Dojo that you need to check out is he's figured out how to get on Amazon. You can order his book from Amazon Prime and get it in two days delivered, that's flipping awesome! Amazon is obviously the big daddy of distribution and one of the big troubles with comic books is there is only one national distributor in the industry, and they aren't the easiest to work with, so people who can change the formula and figure out a better way to handle the issue of distribution are definitely ahead of the game. Amazon might be a killer of many industries but in the comics industry, I think they may be a savior if used properly.
YOUNGBLOOD
One of the architects of the rise of Image Comics, Rob Liefeld has recently come forward and announced that he has lost control of one of his debut properties, Youngblood. Youngblood is one of those books that came out during the birth of Image Comics and sold millions of issues over the rich beginnings of the young publisher. The situation he got himself into, was that basically he brought in the wrong guy, and eventually he lost total control of his property. It isn't just Youngblood though, of the roughly twenty-one properties he created during his time at Image and later at Awesome, he now only controls some of them and the others he has partial control. Essentially the sins of his youth have come back and hurt his long-term future. It's ultimately a story every young entrepreneur and creative should learn from.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
I was going to write something political here but honestly, I'm done. I'm done talking about politics with people because I think people have already made up their mind. They don't care what happens or what's said or who does what, I think people on both sides have already decided how they feel, what should happen and what's important. It's disappointing to see and it's upsetting that we can't have an evolving conversation about things as they happen and change. Marco Rubio (who isn't one of my favorite people) changed his position on magazine size regulations after he learned about the shooting in his home state and that if the magazines had been shorter there were times were fewer people may have been shot or died because of reloading. I think it's fair for people to change their minds, I think if something happens that makes them feel differently we should be allowed to say so, and at some point I think these shootings have to reach a point where we as a country can agree that there are several factors and some of them may involve looking at how easy it is to buy a gun. There are other factors of course, but one of them might be the ease with which certain people get a gun.
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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