After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

We are halfway through our second show of the week. Follows the end of week six and Monday Night Football in Los Angeles where it felt like they were in Dallas at AT&T Stadium.

I had to remind myself they were in fact at SoFi Stadium Chargers and Cowboys. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We'll get back to baseball and a lot of you sending tweets and your Facebook messages about me working from the Super Series. We've also got our poll up now for the TD of the week.

Check it out on Twitter, After Hours, CBS or on our Facebook page. Our guest, Fernando Ramirez, who covers the Chargers for the Sporting Tribune is now with us. He's got his own story to tell.

Fernando, thanks so much for joining us. What happened? Oh, hi, Amy. Super secret home base. I'm like, maybe I shouldn't disclose where I'm at, but no, I'm just kidding with you.

That's pretty funny. Super secret home base. I'm gonna start using that line now. I hope you're okay with that. I'm okay with that. That's fine. But you're not home, so where are you?

I'm on my way. I still live in San Diego. So I'm on my way driving from LA to San Diego. I left the stadium at about probably closer to almost 11 o'clock and my tail light was out and I got pulled over and the cops were like, hey, there's fog.

I know. Where are you driving from? I'm like, oh, I was covering the Charger game. And then he goes, oh, and I said, yeah. And then he's like, well, drive home safe. Just your tail lights out. Make sure you're aware of it.

It's kind of foggy out here. I'm like, I was like, all right, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Bye bye bye. So that was my little, my little, my little mishap, but everything's good to go.

And so yeah, I'm on the road driving back down to San Diego. Did that happen at the exact time that you were supposed to join us on the show? Yeah. I mean, what are the odds of that?

Right. And, and I'm in my eye watches ringing and I'm like, oh my God, I'm like, I'm missing this. And I wasn't going to tell him, Hey officer, can you give me five minutes? I got to say, Hey, who knows? Maybe he's a fan of yours.

And he would have been like for Amy. Yeah, sure. Go ahead. So maybe I should have plugged. Maybe I should have plugged you. I should have plugged you.

I've been like, Hey, it's Amy show. Like you got to let me jump on there. So maybe next time I'll use that. You can name drop next time.

Sounds good. Exactly. Exactly.

You might know who you are, but you'll know who you are. I appreciate that. So Fernando, let's talk about the atmosphere.

It's so fine. I mean, there were times where it seemed like it was AT&T stadium. How loud was it for the Cowboys fans? It was pretty loud. I mean, at times when it was actually, especially third law, third and long, uh, you can hear D fans, D fans, loud, uh, for the Cowboys. You know why it felt like we were at AT&T stadium because anytime you would look up at the, at the, uh, at the monitors, like before the game, Jerry Jones on set with ESPN, Jimmy Johnson and, uh, and Jerry Jones embrace at the 50 yard line. Like that just made it feel even more like it was, uh, it was a Cowboys home game, but, uh, but I mean, it did get loud for the chargers at times and, and charger fans were loud, but I mean, it's California who doesn't want to come out here.

Who doesn't want to, I mean, if you're, especially with some of the opponents that they have coming out, Detroit, uh, they have the bills coming out right before Christmas. I mean, you're in the snowy weather, you're not wanting to get out of there and, and come out to sunny, sunny California. So, and we have the great, the best Mexican food in the whole country. So I wouldn't blame them for wanting to come out here. How frustrating is that though, for the chargers players and coaches to not feel like they have a home field advantage? Well, I mean, they've been, they've been doing better. And I mean, I guess having Justin Herbert helps having Justin Herbert has gained them more and more fans that are up here or they've gotten up in LA. I still know that a lot of fans drive from San Diego, from Tijuana up to the, to the games as well. They've established a fan base just that it's like last week for the, two weeks ago for the Raiders game, there was, uh, it was probably 55, 45, 50, 50 right around there.

Like it wasn't a, a sea of, uh, of black and silver like it was a couple of years ago. They have gotten better when it comes to this, but, uh, but I know former players voiced their frustration a little bit more like Melvin Gordon, uh, guys like that. The guys right now on the team, they really don't, they don't really see it like that. Uh, I think they're more quiet about it because like I said, I think they have built a, a, a fan base here. They've connected with the community. They've done more stuff. And again, having the guy like Justin Herbert, uh, really helps it.

So I think they've helped, they've helped grow that. But obviously when it comes to the Cowboys, it's gonna, they're going to overrun whatever stadium they go to just cause they're fan base. I mean, honestly, people want to say, Oh, is this a Rams town or is it a Chargers town? No, this is a Raiders and Cowboys town. Like the Cowboys have training camp out here and the Raiders are obviously going to be loved because Ice Cube, uh, EZE, all these guys were Raider guys and they love the Raiders and the Raiders were in LA. So I think it's more of a Raiders and Cowboys town, but, uh, I think the Chargers are slowly, but surely building a fan base out here. Fernando Ramirez is joining us now, thankfully did not get a ticket and is working his way home through the fog. He's a Chargers reporter for the sporting tribune with us here after hours on CBS Sports Radio.

And we appreciate him doing a bit of a pivot and making sure he can still hop on the show. I know that for the Chargers a long time, the reputation has been, you don't want to have faith in them because they're going to let you down. They find unique and creative ways to lose. And yes, with Justin Herbert and some of the other incredible weapons that they have on both sides of the ball, they've had some impressive wins.

They tend to get in these games that are separated by one or two scores tops, but a lot of times it's single digits. What is it that's missing for them, Fernando? Why can't they quite get over the hump and join the elite in the NFL? I mean, to be completely honest, I just think it's everything. It's not just the players.

It starts up top, trickles down to the bottom. I just think it's everything and I think it starts at the top and comes down general manager, head coach and everything. And honestly, like you said, they have good players, but it just hasn't materialized. I mean, last year, they go in with some momentum going into the last game of the season. And then boom, Mike Williams drops in the second quarter and you go into the playoffs, they have that game against the Jaguars. And then they come out this season, they start 0-2. Even their wins against Minnesota and the Raiders aren't convincing at all. And then they lose this one to the Cowboys. Amy, the three losses, if you combined it, two points against the Dolphins, three points against the Titans, and then three points today. So that's eight points. They've lost three games with eight points.

So you would hope that they could finally get over the hump. And Justin Herbert is seen as that white knight that potentially could get this team over the hump. But I mean, they're going to have to get better playmakers tonight. No, Mike Williams really is hurting them. I mean, Quinn Johnson just hasn't been integrated into this team. Josh Palmer's done a serviceable job, but you're missing that Mike Williams element. You need other guys to step up like Gerald Everett, Donald Parham, Austin Eckler, the running backs as a whole. And just nobody else kind of goes at it. So it's like, okay, Herbert has to throw the ball 50 times and that worked against the Vikings, but it just didn't work tonight.

So it's just a little, well, I shouldn't even say tonight, last night because obviously it's a new day. But yeah, it's a continued run that even happened back in San Diego. I remember people were getting mad at Mario Crystal Ball for the fumble the other day. I remember there was a game where Phillip Rivers was under center against the Chiefs. All they needed to do, Amy, was down the ball, take a knee, and then boom, the game would be over.

It was on Halloween night. Phillip Rivers moved his hand before Nick Hardwick snaps it, hit his hand, fumbled, Chiefs recover. They go down the field, kick a field goal, win the game, and that's how she wrote. It just happens to these guys for some reason, and it's really unexplainable. But if you had to put your finger on it, it's the team as a whole, in a sense, all the way from management to the players. Except that leadership can change that, right? So as you point out, there's a lack of discipline at times. It seems as though they're not all pulling in the same direction. If it does start at the top, and whether it's ownership, we know we're not going to see a team sale or anything, but whether it's ownership, general manager, coaches, if it does start at the top, then does that mean the coaching staff is under fire or the coaching staff is on a hot seat? I mean, it doesn't look good, but there's positives and there's negatives to what Brandon Sailey has done. The players are behind him. They still say they're behind him.

If you ask the players, do you feel like he is the right coach? Yeah, I know. It's on us. It's on us. It's on us. It's on us.

And then you see the results and you're kind of like, well, there's times. One of the things about Brandon Sailey is his defense. His defense has not been able to stop guys. Yeah, they held the Cowboys tonight to 20 points.

They stopped the run. But at the same time, what the 49ers did last week, the Dak Prescott, got unraveled tonight. And the Dak Prescott looked like he was picking their defense apart. He was 7 for 7 when he targeted C.D. Lamb, 4 for 4 with Brandon Cooks. When they needed a clutch moment from him, he got it and he was able to drive the team down.

The charge couldn't make stops at certain points. And that falls on Brandon Sailey because of his defense. I mean, this is your defense.

You've now had three years with it. These are your guys. The only guys that you really inherited are Joey Bosa and Derwin James and Kenneth Murray. Everybody else is basically, and Michael Davis, but everybody else is basically a guy that you've wanted. And it just hasn't worked. That scheme hasn't worked.

For some reason, Amy, I don't know why, they just do not press receivers. That's very surprising, especially when Tyreek Hill did a number on you a couple of weeks ago. Justin Jefferson did a number on you before he got hurt. And now C.D.

Lamb does a number on you. And it's like, it's just the same continuation of stuff happening where they're at third and 18. They get the first down. They're at third and 8. They get the first down. They just can't come up with stops at clutch moments.

And that kind of falls on them. So, yeah, I think in a sense, he should be, well, he is on the hot seat just because of, but they won't make a change during the season. But I'm sure they're going to be, if they don't make the playoffs, there's going to be conversations after the season about moving forward, what's going to be the best decision for them if Keith and Brandon Salie are going with an offensive-minded coach or what those are.

But I do think that there is, that seat is, there are going to be questions after the season if they don't make the playoffs. So, Fernando, we saw Justin Herbert miss on a couple of big throws. One in particular that stands out, Keenan Allen wide open up the left sideline. He just threw the ball over his head. I mean, there were a couple of others where he just wasn't in sync. But, yeah, it seemed as though there's far more of a choice, a concerted effort to throw the ball as opposed to run it. And I know the Dallas defense, they do pride themselves on stuffing the run. What impact, though, has Kellen Moore made as the new OC? Well, I mean, yeah, and I think with those throws, I just think the Cowboys were hitting Justin so much that at one point, I think he might have gotten flustered a little bit. I mean, that doesn't take away from who he is as a quarterback and what he means in this franchise. But at the same time, you could tell he was a little bit flustered. He was under duress a lot during this game. I think by halftime, I think it was 45 or 50 percent of the snaps that he had taken, or drawbacks that he had had, he had been under pressure. So, he was hit like, I think it was eight or nine times.

And that's not counting the runs that he had. But going back to your, what was your question again? I'm so sorry. Well, it's about Kellen Moore. It's okay, Kellen Moore and the impact. Oh, Kellen Moore.

Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. So, Kellen Moore, what has really kind of happened with the Chargers is, and I'm leaning more towards what they do in the second half of games, the Chargers are one of the worst teams in the NFL last year. They went nine games straight without scoring a third-quarter touchdown. And in the fourth quarter, they would get out to big leads and they would lose them.

That's what happened last year. This year, they're kind of maintaining their scoring almost consistently in every single quarter. I know they're fifth in the NFL, I think, in fourth quarters, in second half scoring.

So, that's really improved. Last year, I think they were like 28th in second half scoring. So, he's really improved a lot of the things that the Chargers have done. The only thing is, besides that first game of the season, the running game hasn't really made an impact. And I guess that's going to take some time with Austin Eckler easing in and everything. But the running game, it's suffered. It hasn't been good.

But other than that, I mean, it's been positive what he's done. They just need to kind of step up, especially late in games. I mean, against the Miami Dolphins, late in that game, Vic Fangio dialed up a lot of pressure at the end of that game. And it really ruined the comeback that the Chargers could have had.

Same thing happened tonight. And it's just been one of those things where, yes, Kellen Moore has been a positive, but there's also little wrinkles here and there where you see some things that are kind of like, oh, why was this play? Like in Tennessee, the last red zone opportunity that they had at the end of the game, there were some questionable decisions being made. And then in overtime when they first got the ball, there were some questionable play calling there as well. So yeah, there's a lot of positives, but there's also some negatives, if we're being completely honest about some questionable things, more about Kellen Moore as the open corner.

But yes, he has been better than what Joe Lombardi was for these guys last year. But there are still some question marks when it comes to Kellen Moore. Fernando, I feel badly for the woman who is holding up the sign that you tweeted, flew from Canada for Eckler's return and a game ball because neither one of those went according to plan.

No, no, and honestly, I feel bad for her as well. The other sign that, I don't know if you saw my other tweet, Lance Bass with, I think the sign of the night, to be honest. I don't know if you saw that, but he's like not Taylor, he yelled up a sign that said not Taylor Swift. So I thought that was hilarious. I thought that was such a good, I know he was waiting for that one too, so I thought that was hilarious that he pulled out that sign and said not Taylor Swift. So yeah, there were some interesting signs out there. Tonight, especially the lady on ESPN.

Oh my gosh. I guess it was going crazy for the Chargers. I was like, she must have made a cue. I don't know if you saw, when Colorado lost that game on Friday, when they lost that 29 point lead, there was a guy crying in the stands. I'm like, he made a bet? And he is going to be sleeping under the freeway in a cardboard box because of the bet that he made. And I think this girl must have had a huge bet on this game too because she was celebrating like she was on the Price is Right, to be honest.

She definitely was very intense and very engaged. Speaking of not Taylor Swift, what are the chances that Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are still a thing when the Chiefs are in Los Angeles coming up on January 7th? So it's the very last week of the regular season. What do you think? Are they still a thing? Does she show up in L.A.?

Amy, you're trying to get the Swifties to come after me, really. I think the business transaction will still be a thing by the time they come out to L.A. Oh, you're not buying that it's real? You're not buying the holding hands and the showing up on SNL? There happen to be cameras involved every single time there's affection and everything.

So I don't know. Hey, New Heights podcast, they've gone up in ratings. He's on every other. Hey, have you ever seen a non-quarterback being so many commercials on TV? I'm asking you.

Not just that, but he and his brother were at the Phillies game and so they were on TV at the Phillies game, too. I'm telling you, they're really taking their lives to new heights. I think they foresaw this and they're like, you know what, let's call it new heights. They're taking their life to a whole new level. But hey, I'm single, I'm no one to judge anybody else. I'm no one to judge anybody else's relationship. I'm happy for both of them.

If they love each other, congratulations to both of you. But I'm pretty sure there'll still be a thing. And I think in L.A., I think she'll be present. If she doesn't have a sort of, you know, it's funny, I checked. Will she be in Kansas City next week?

No, she will be in Miami because she has a concert in Miami. Yeah, I checked. I checked. I was like, I wonder if Taylor Swift, because I have a podcast as well.

So I checked and I'm like, I wonder. She's like, why don't you check to see if Taylor Swift is going to be there? And I'm like, no, she's not going to be there. She'll be in Miami. But I think she will make her way out to L.A. for that game.

If there's still a thing, I'm pretty sure she'll make her way out. And I'm pretty sure we won't be talking about was there more Chiefs or Chargers fans. We'll be talking about was there more Swifties or NFL fans at that game.

Interesting, because I'm not sure how much she needs the pub. But as you point out, the NFL has gotten a lot of extra pub for it, as have the Kelseys and certainly the Chiefs. They're selling more gear because now Swifties are buying Chiefs gear, which is kind of funny.

Can you imagine if Swifties are the reason why there's no more turf in the NFL? Of course. Let's put that all on Taylor and see what else she can get changed. Absolutely.

I like it. Can you get some of this hitting, some of these things, can you get that solved too, Taylor? Yeah, the roughing the passer.

Can you get them to lay off on roughing the passer calls? Exactly. Can you help us out? And while you're at it, if you have a job for some of us, we'll take a job if you need them. Shameless self-promotion for Fernando Ramirez. You can find him on Twitter at RealFRamirez. And he's none worse for the wear after getting pulled over when he was supposed to be on the radio last hour. We appreciate his humor too. Chargers reporter for Sporting Tribune.

And clearly is not opposed to Taylor Swift making an appearance at SoFi come the opportunity. Alright, Fernando, we're glad you're safe. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. Thank you, Amy. Have a great morning. And I appreciate you having me on. Thank you so much. Of course.

We'll talk to you soon. That is kind of a funny question, right? Since the Chiefs don't play in LA until the very end of the regular season, will Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey still be a thing? I don't know. I just feel like she's not getting a whole lot of benefit out of it if it's fake. She doesn't need the pub. Her movie opened up to the tune of, gosh, 75 million in opening weekend just here in the United States. So I don't think she's hurting for pub. I can't imagine what benefits she gets out of it. So I hope that the Kelsey brothers and the NFL are not just using her for her hype train, if you will.

Build the beast. All right. On Twitter, A Law Radio. You can vote for TD of the Week on our show Twitter or my Twitter.

And then also on our Facebook page. You all are very kind to care about my dog, who right now is finally sleeping next to my little station here at the super secret home base. But boy, she is that. Well, we both had a very stressful Monday. It was a manic Monday, to be sure. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Here on After Hours, we like you as much as you like us.

We have been jammed with phone calls tonight. Welcome to After Hours. Good morning, Amy.

First of all, I want to tell you a woman with foot. Oh, my goodness. Boom! What a pleasure it is to talk to you. I tell you, whenever I can't sleep during the night, I turn CBS Radio on. This program tonight is probably one of the best things I've ever, ever heard. I'm literally sitting in my vehicle, just listening, and I'm like, why have I not been living life, listening to Amy show more often?

I feel like I'm robbing myself. You're part of the club now. And there we go. It totally won me over.

I listened last night, there were two great reasons, and then tonight it got up to like seven and ten, and I was like, she's on fire. Awesome. Well, I appreciate that. I'm glad we can keep you company. Amy's taking your calls at 855-212-4CBS. I am hosting the show from my satellite super secret home base for the first time since 2021.

And I know I'm the aberration. I don't actually enjoy working from home. It's way out of my comfort zone.

And we do take the show on the road now and then. It's just not my preferred form of hosting. And people say to me all the time, why don't you like working from home? Well, it's partly because I can't see producer J. I can't control my own microphone, for heaven's sakes. I have no access to the equipment, but also it's my living room as opposed to being a broadcast quality million multimillion dollar studio.

It's just, well, I mean, the computers are from 1995, so at least I have an upgrade here with my home laptop. And I guess the chairs also are ones that I can rely on here at my house, as opposed to the chairs that we are frequently testing out and a little bit cautious of in studio. There are drawbacks to working in studio like the commute, which I hate. But for the most part, it's a much better product and show when I'm in studio with the producer as opposed to being here at the satellite.

But it was a necessity. I didn't find out. Well, I didn't ask the bosses until later in the afternoon if I could host the show from home. I happen to have some equipment with me for some interviews we've done recently with players and and some others that that we had to catch up with during the daytime.

A couple of broadcasters. So if you missed it. Well, I suppose I could put the microphone down next to the sleeping dog who is at my feet. She's snoring now.

Oh, OK. I see how you are. This dog woke me up in the afternoon, early afternoon. So I woke up out of a stupor and realized that she was in some major pain.

Wasn't able to get back to sleep. Got on the got on the phone with the vet. They don't have an appointment until Wednesday that I can get in ordered.

Then I go crazy on my phone jam on Amazon trying to order a collar so she can't lick and bite at her hot spots. I get some spray. It's actually going to be delivered overnight. So I'm waiting for the Amazon truck like any I don't know, any second now the Amazon truck could arrive at my doorstep, which is a little creepy, but whatever. So it's not like I'm going to invite him in. He's just going to have to leave the package on the doorstep. But yeah, Penny deals with some allergies.

I think a lot of dogs do, but she's never really had issues with hotspots. This one is really bad. It is. I mean, I use the the size earlier of like a couple double quarters like next to each other. It's about that size, maybe even bigger. And she will not let me touch it. She flinches every time I get near it. It's on her hip, her left hip, and she will not let me touch it.

Earlier, I was trying to comb the matted hair before I realized what was happening. And she was trying to run from me and I tried to put some some Neosporin on the the spot just to ease her pain. It's burning up to it's really hot, but she won't really let me near it. And I don't want to hurt her. So a couple of times I put medicine on it, but I'm trying to be careful of it. And the worst part today for her is I'm assuming she couldn't get comfortable because no joke.

No joke. For three, four hours this afternoon, the dog paced and painted and circled. She just kept circling around and around the house. So I was trying to get stuff done. I'm in the kitchen.

Then I'm on the bike and, you know, trying to get ready for work and watch football and baseball and everything else. And the dog is she refuses to settle. And she would sit down for a couple of minutes and then she would get up and she would move around again. And I think now she's just completely exhausted because she's not moving. Make sure she's breathing. Hold on.

Oh, yes. She's snoring away. I don't think you can hear like you could hear sugar earlier, but she is snoring away.

So that's good. But I couldn't leave her because I didn't want her to make the hot spot worse. And it's it's some obvious pain that she's in. The vet tells me that dogs and cats, a lot of animals, but dogs and cats, as domestic animals, have a very high pain tolerance. They don't feel the pain that the way that humans do. But she was clearly in pain today.

Poor thing. So I've never drug the dog. I've I've never given her. I mean, she's on meds, but I've never given her anything to sleep, anything like that. So I just I don't feel comfortable because she's an older dog. She's a month away from being 14. But yeah, this this is something new that I've not dealt with in the past. So we will be going to the doctor on Wednesday. But between now and then, there'll be a collar.

Should show up any time. And she's going to kill me, Jay. She's never worn a collar before. A couple of times back when she was younger, I put her in a Thunder shirt.

For those of you who have dogs, it's almost like swaddling your dog, but with the feet sticking out. You know, you're supposed to wrap her up real tight with this this almost like a vest. And so she had this Thunder shirt on that's supposed to keep her feeling a little safer. It worked a little bit.

I wouldn't say it worked great. And she hated wearing it. She would just stand there and stare at me like she was miserable. But I've never put a collar on her before. Have you ever put a collar on Moose? Really only when he goes on a walk is when he puts it on when he's in the house. I usually take it off.

I'm sorry. Not that kind of a collar. One of those like big collars that prevents them from like turning their heads. And yeah, so something you would see like a cone or there's these.

OK, you know, when you go into long airplane flight, you sometimes take those pillows that go around your neck. Yes. So we had. So that's what it's like. He had something on like he had like some sort of cut or something on his arm or his leg that he was biting at a few years ago. We had to put the cone around him, but he hated it like he hated it so much. So we actually went on when I Amazon and got him like this more like a doughnut looking kind of thing. Yeah, that's what it is. It's like a call.

It's called a collar, but yeah, more comfortable, not a cone. And like he still hated it, but it wasn't as bad. He was able to like kind of sleep and just more relaxed with it more on. But yeah, I mean, you know, had to be done. Yeah, she's she's not going to be happy, but somebody's got to sleep. She's sleeping now. So I'm going to try to get to sleep later.

Yeah. Your guess is clearly people on social media haven't yet heard why I'm working from the super secret home base. Chuck's guess is it's a Star Wars marathon and you don't want to miss any of it.

It's a good guess, but I'm here so I can't be it. True, because Jay is now turned into an epic Star Wars nerd. Let's see, Alan, cars out of gas and you're helping the environment.

No, that is definitely not the case. Nor will I ever use an electric car unless I am forced to by law, nor will I ever use a use a self-driving car. Not a self.

That's dumb. A self-propelled vehicle. What are they called? A non-driving car? I don't know.

Automatic driving. Yeah, I have no idea, but I'll never use one of those either unless I am compelled by law. In which case, I don't know. I may break the law. What?

I never break the law. All right. So coming up, we've got still another baseball game to get to.

Speaking of dogs, I haven't yet told you the cupcake story from the weekend where my best friend who's making cupcakes for the wedding apparently has a dog who really likes baked goods. Yep. So I still have more stories, but we'll try to we'll try to get to those and get them so that you're not getting all stories and no sports.

Some of you get very cranky, like very cranky when that happens. It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio, on Twitter, A Law Radio, on our Facebook page. Witness Protection. That's where I am. The super secret home base.

They don't know that I'm doing my radio show. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Valdez back to the set and he comes home and Grossman swings it's a tapper out toward the mound. Valdez bobbles the ball, throws to first and throws it away down the right field line.

In to score a simian, Seager around third being held up. Grossman goes all the way to second and the Rangers lead one to nothing in the top of the first. They're back at second and short and he lines one to right on the first pitch.

It's a base hit. One run is home and Grossman will stop at third and the Rangers lead it two to nothing. 1-0 pitch and that's lined to left field. Brantley coming on and over, can't get it, base hit. Another run is home as Grossman crosses the plate.

Adoli stops at second. It's 3-0 Texas in the first. Pitch to low and the ground ball through the left side, it's a base hit. Garcia tearing around third, he's heading home. Here's the throw by Brantley. It is cut off and it's 4-0 Rangers as Nathaniel Lowe delivers his third RBI of the postseason.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Similar to the Phillies jumping all over the Diamondbacks in the first inning of the first game of the NLCS, the Rangers, they've done it again. This time with four runs to silence or at least mute the crowd at Minute Maid Park in Houston for game two.

Now remember this was a quicker turnaround. They played early in the afternoon, 3.30 Minute Maid Park time, Houston time. And actually 3.30 Arlington time as well. And then Jonah Heim added a home run in the third. And Jordan Alvarez had a pair of home runs in this game. They also got a solo shot from Alex Bregman.

So there was some activity for the Astros. But when it came to that quick start, it was the Rangers who have continued to use that same formula. And now as they continue on through this playoff run, the formula is working because they have not lost. They have not lost seven for seven. They're 7-0. And I know that it was a little more of a, I don't even know if I'd call it nail-biting, nerve-wracking.

I'm not sure I would say that. But I do think it's impressive the way that the Rangers did beat back a couple of challenges. One in particular, Nathan Evaldi, who was the starter for the Rangers, with bases loaded and nobody out.

That was the challenge that he faced mid-game. Two balls, two strikes. The pitch. He struck him out swinging. Got him to chase a curve that was way off the plate outside. One and two the count on Altuve. And here's the pitch.

Swing and a miss. He struck him out on a splitter. So down goes Altuve. Evaldi has struck out two in a row with the bases loaded. And now it is up to Bregman with the Astros playing with the bonus out afforded them by the Josh Young error. Here's the pitch. Swing and a bouncing ball left side. Young cuts it off. Throws to first. Got him. And Evaldi gets out of the jam.

How about that? They had the bases loaded and nobody out. And Evaldi escapes. No runs, two hits, an error. They leave him loaded.

And after five, it's still five to two, Texas. A lot of the guys in the dugout were saying how loud it was in the stadium. And to me, you get that tunnel vision, that extra focus, and you kind of block everything out. And I feel like in those big moments, you've got to bear down and be able to make big pitches. That's what we've been playing 162 games for is to get prepared for this moment. So I think we're just going out there playing baseball and enjoying the moment.

If we can go out there and have fun and just play ball, then we're going to be just fine. That's the battery for the Texas Rangers. And Evaldi is now 3-0 in this postseason.

So think about that. At the front end of this rotation, we've seen Jordan Montgomery and we've seen Nathan Evaldi. And these two guys, of course, started their careers, played the majority of their careers in other cities for other franchises. But have found a home now with the Rangers and are pitching some of the best baseball of their careers.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Glad to have you with us. Rangers, again, have not lost yet in this postseason. Now have a 2-0 lead on their hated, I don't know if you can call them rivals anymore, but their hated in-state opponent. First time they've ever faced off in the postseason. And like I said, the Rangers using this formula for the most part of jumping on the opposing pitcher early and often.

And while the Astros did come back again with a couple of home runs from Alvarez and one from Bregman, never really felt like the ending was in doubt. Maybe that's me. I'm sure there were some Rangers fans who were getting a little bit nervous. But I just love the command.

I love the focus. And they're built for this. I know this particular group of guys, this franchise has not been to a championship series since 2011. But if you think about some of the experience and some of the veterans that they brought in from other places, Corey Seeger being one, right?

Marcus Simeon being another. We know Max Scherzer is about to start Game 3, going to Arlington and starting Game 3 now that he's on the active roster and he's available for the ALCS. We'll see what he brings to the table.

But he's a Cy Young winner as well as a World Series champion. So it's it's a bunch of transplants. It's a bunch of guys from elsewhere. Collectively, there's a lot of experience. Collectively, you've got a manager who's got three World Series rings and Bruce Bochy.

I mean, they do have that ability to focus and to draw on that experience and and to understand how to perform the pressure of the big moments. We'd love for you to find us on Twitter after our CBS vote for our TD of the Week. Know that was an abrupt change from baseball to football. Also on our Facebook page, you all are cracking me up. I'm not kidding. Penny is after I talked about her.

I guess she missed all of it. She's snoring so loudly next to my chair. You might be able to hear on the radio the things that we do for our furry loved ones.

And also, you guys have you've gone off the deep end in some of your guesses as to why I would be working from home. I hope now that you have heard the story. It wasn't my dog who went after the baked goods on Saturday.

No, actually, my best friend, I was in Atlanta and she and I were doing a cupcake tasting on Saturday. And we'd been baking all day. We started very scientific process that we were going through. Jay, we had a scale.

We had a control group. We had notes. We took photos. Oh, yeah. We were being very scientific and serious. Yeah, we were. Well, as the valedictorian and salutatorian of our high school class, we felt as though we need to apply the education.

So no joke. I have I have photos. I have notes. We were taste testing very deliberately. We started out with a particular formula, but we kind of added on the different layers and the different elements to see how they they would taste step by step anyway. So we get through. We start. We tasted our first cupcakes at eleven o'clock in the morning. We didn't finish tasting cupcakes until eleven o'clock at night.

But I will say multiple times cleanse the palate and also multiple times we took breaks right where we were either baking or we were cleaning up or whatever else. We went to get some food. So we decided we would not make dinner. We made lunch. We decided we would not make dinner. We would just go grab some takeout.

Jay, I'm not kidding you. We were gone for maybe 10 minutes, really close to Stephanie's house. She had left the cupcakes out on the counter, but not like sitting at the edge of the counter.

And we come back. Now, her dog mostly was in the crate. This is her crazy younger dog, mostly in the crate. We come back and there are six cupcakes missing six cupcakes missing. The dog had apparently had a feast. She had no idea that her dog, Daisy, liked baked goods, had never shown any indication that she wanted cookies or anything sweet like that. Six cupcakes. We go over to the living room couch. There are crumbs all over the couch like the dog had actually taken the cupcakes off of the counter over to the couch and then posted up on the couch and had a feast. It had a plan when you guys left. Yeah, no joke. So anyway, we had to start all over again and rebake that particular batch of cupcakes because we weren't sure how many she licked or whether or not the other ones were safe. So, yeah, dogs.

My life ruled by dogs. It's after our CBS Sports Radio.