Falcon Points
On Super Bowl radio row, book signings, puppies, ponies and a good cause: 5 topics for a Monday
Jan 28, 2019, 7:42 am
Falcon Points
Doing something a little different today, with a look at 5 topics to kick off your week:
Theo Rossi and Ron Pearlman at radio row.
You might have heard the Super Bowl is this week in Atlanta. One of the side stories every year is Radio Row. Multiple stations send their shows to get interviews and broadcast live. We have done roughly eight or so Super Bowls, but did not go last year and will not be going this year.
Usually, if you don't go, you talk about how forced the interviews are, how everybody gets the same people and it does not make for great radio.
I actually like Super Bowl Radio Row. Yes, you have tons of interviews and everybody has to give their take on the Texans and who is going to win the big game and then hawk some product. But every year, you get one or two gems that you did not expect. One of my all-time favorites was when we had Theo Rossi and Ron Pearlman on to talk Sons of Anarchy. Other memorable interviews included Kevin Costner and the reverend Jesse Jackson. Getting guys who are not sports stars often creates the best interviews.
In a perfect world, you would do 1-2 interviews a day and pick out the ones you think will be interesting. But that's not how it works. So we will still do good shows this week, talk a lot about the game and find some entertaining angles. Many stations have stopped going due to costs, but hopefully in the future we will get a chance to go back. I honestly believe not doing it for a couple years will make the experience fun again; it can get to be a bit of a grind. But those occasional gems make it worthwhile.
Save the date: Saturday Feb. 9 at Around the Corner bar and restaurant (1510 Hutchins Street in East Downtown) we will have the official Jesus Just Left Chicago book release party and signing. There will be a Karbach tap takeover, a D.J. and all around fun. It will be 3-6 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Copies will be available and if you already have yours bring it and I will sign it. The response has been awesome so far and there is a lot more to come. Ken Hoffman wrote a nice article about it here.
I have not been doing a lot of organized runs lately, but will be getting back in the game on March 3 with the Terry Fox run. Terry Fox was a Canadian hero and you can learn more about him here. Please join me for the 5k or 10k and help raise money for this cause. It will be a lot of fun, and I am sure there will be an after party.
Yes, she is much bigger now.
Sometime this week I will have a story on how to get proper training for your puppy. We have a 13 week old Dalmatian and she has been to four training sessions. I honestly do not believe I would be sane if we had not taken her. So look for that on CultureMap and SportsMap later this week. If you have a new puppy, it's not too late.
Midnight Bisou won the Classic.
Coady Photography
Sam Houston Race Park opened its 2019 meet on Friday night and concluded a terrific opening weekend with the Racing Festival that featured several big stakes races. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith came to town for the first time to ride, and it was easily the best thoroughbred racing in the country on Sunday. The Ladies Classic, which featured the seasonal debut of talented filly Midnight Bisou, was featured on the cover of the Daily Racing Form. Those kinds of things have not happened for a long time, so it was great to see. This is year 25 at the track, and hopefully it will be the best one yet.
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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