NERDS AROUND TOWN
The Nerd Report: Endgame spoilers suck, NBA playoffs and more
Apr 17, 2019, 8:08 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, Sports and Wrestling. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
Hey Nerds!
Waking up to Wednesday guys! Let's get excited, we're half way through the week and I hope you're on pace to absolutely crush this week.
GOOD DEED OF THE DAY
This week we're going to focus on helping some people right in the circle of nerds, at the Spring Charity Drag Show. It's a themed drag show within Houston's nerd community and will feature pop culture, gaming and nerd icons as well as prominent drag queens in the "Gaymer" community. The proceeds go towards this group which all year long put on events for their community and give those people a place to go and be accepted.
PLAYOFFS?!, PLAYOFFS?!
Man do I love the NBA playoffs, they are the most exciting playoffs to me. I know some people may complain that a lot of years chalk carries through for the most part, which is fairly accurate but their journey to the finals every year is what is most impressive. This year we're basically two games in, with the Rockets playing their second game today, and already The Clippers had an amazing Game 2 come from behind victory over the defending champion Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs blew a 19 point lead as well. The Celtics, who all season long have been question marks look great and The Raptors looked like, well the playoff Raptors who are traditionally awful; think if every year your best friend always gave you the worst gift for Christmas, that's the playoff Raptors. Tonight the Rockets look to go up two games over the Utah Jazz, who have forever been the bane of playoff Rockets but I'm confident this year will be different.
AVENGERS ENDGAME FRUSTRATIONS
So apparently on the internet people have begun leaking Avengers Endgame information and that is my biggest pet peeve. Spoilers have become one of the worst things in the world. Who are these people who want to spoil the ending to what is essentially a ten year long story? Are these the same people who searched for hidden gifts during the Christmas season? I mean what is wrong with just waiting and being pleasantly surprised, just waiting the nine more days to find out what lies ahead? This is such a sad development for fans everywhere and now it's got me dodging all things Avengers related with a seriousness that I didn't think would be necessary.
MORE BAD NEWS
So speaking of disappointing news out of entertainment land, production seems to have stopped on Y: The Last Man's FX television adaptation. Based on an amazing comic book by Brian K Vaughn and Pia Guerra, Y: The Last Man was the story of a world where a mysterious plague has killed every man on the planet except one Yorrick Brown, literally the last man on Earth. It's an amazing comic book and if you can find it anywhere go out and buy it, it's a completed story from start to finish and it's in graphic novel format so it's one of the easier comic books to follow but it's a beautiful story with great moments and wonderful characters and I hope this mess gets cleared up. There was apparently a pilot made last year, FX liked it and approved it for a first season and just this week with production only a month in, the show runners disagreed with FX on what they were making, what kind of show it was and what it was about, so the showrunners quit. FX says they want to continue making the show but with new showrunners, so we'll see, but my fingers are truly crossed for this one because I loved Y: The Last Man.
THE INTERNET KEEPS BEING AMAZING AND AWFUL
In a bid to be both the worst and most amazing thing ever made the internet always just cuts both ways I feel like every time you see something great that could only happen with the internet, you then see some horrible story and you're like well, of course. It's like for every time there's a great go-fund me for some kid with cancer who then gets to announce he's cancer free and a millionaire then there's a story where a guy broadcasts on facebook live him beating up puppies or something, it seems like it never fails. So this week the same news story has the pleasure of being both, already in 2019 more stores have closed than in all of 2018 because of the internet. The downside is pretty obvious I feel like, it's one of those things where the internet kills jobs and big companies gobble other big companies but the positives are there too. For those not seeing it, it's simple, we're reaching points in the lifecycle of the internet where the idea of a Payless shoe store no longer makes sense, or a dollar store no longer make sense and that's a great thing as far as technology and innovation are concerned because now we can take these areas of the market to new unexplored corners, think about it, we've only been doing "shoe stores" one way for like 60 years and now we have an opportunity to completely redesign the thing from the ground up.
NOT THAT YOU ASKED
The DC Streaming service which I have been rather vocally critical of in its early stages is beginning to shift into a more logical place. In just the past few weeks they've made several changes and announcements that bring the service more inline with the value they were purporting to have this whole time. They have said that by the end of this month, the entire catalog of DC comics will be available to read on the streaming service and they finally have gotten onto one of the gaming platforms, they now have an app on Xbox One. One of the biggest and fairest complaints during this whole process was there wasn't a convenient way to watch the service except on phones and tablets and computers but not on, you know, your TV. They had a Roku channel but everyone has one of those and no one knows how Roku works it seems like, so we're back to square one, but in the same time Disney announced the details of their service this month, DC finally got on one of the three major gaming systems.
I'm going to jump out and wish you guys a great Wednesday and remind everyone to be kind to each other and try a little harder to have a great day! I'm coming back Friday and we'll be bringing more good times your way. Feel free to check out my digital short story The Wilson House, or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where every shirt is now under $20 or listen to Nerd Thug Radio or support our Patreon Page. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.