Geoff Blum, World Series Champion

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Download the Odyssey app today. With the Chicago White Sox and that is Jeff Blum. Jeff, appreciate the time as always. How you been? I'm actually doing pretty good considering, man. It's been a fun World Series so far. How you guys doing?

I'm doing fantastic. So what did you make of the combined no-hitter last night, right? Isn't that just baseball one night? Philadelphia is just slugging home run after home run and then the next night they couldn't even get a hit. I mean, that is probably one of the more incredible things is to have two of the best teams in the American League, National League. And you see an explosive offense and the Philadelphia Phillies put up five home runs, seven runs, and then show up the next day against a guy like Christian Javier.

They cannot score up a fastball and get no hit by three relievers and Christian Javier. I mean, it's miraculous that it happened in the World Series only the second time in history. But to have that happen on back-to-back nights pretty much explains or sums up this World Series so far. In the moment, what did you make of the decision by Dusty Baker to pull Christian Javier on 97 pitches while he's throwing a no-hitter?

I wasn't shocked. We saw that. We've seen this program before with the Astros. They went into the Bronx and played very well and Christian Javier had a start in that four-game series against the Yankees where he did very similar things where he had six shutout baseball. And Dusty Baker immediately went to the bullpen to close that thing out.

So really no surprise on our end, you know, having watched Houston Astros over the course of the season the way that Dusty is going to function with a young pitcher like Christian Javier. I thought it was awesome last night. Some people today, they get all caught up in that it's a combined no-hitter against usually the organic no-hitter with one pitcher. Does that matter to you?

I still think that was a pretty damn cool moment last night. But some people are downplaying the importance of it. Yeah, I mean, you can downplay the importance and say it's not a traditional no-hitter where you have a pitcher go a complete game shutout, no-hit baseball. But at the same time, guess what happens? There's no hits in that hit column.

So guess what? It's a no-hitter combined or not. And I still qualify it as a no-hitter.

It just took a couple extra guys to get it done. When you get from the mental side of it is Jeff Blum is here with us. I know it's the World Series.

You got to move on flush it. This is a pivotal game tonight. How do you expect Philadelphia to bounce back tonight? Well, I would admit they're a good quality lineup. And I really like the balance of their lineup with, you know, Schwab at the top. You've got Harper in the middle. And then you've got some guys later in the lineup that can put together some good at bats like a Gene Segura.

There's some veteran guys down there. So I like their lineup. And I like the way they're competing against the line of pitching rotation and bullpen like the Houston Astros that can come out there and get you in different ways, whether it's the fastball or the high spin rates that everybody likes to talk about.

But I think it's a little more. It's a little more on Justin Verlander than it is the Philadelphia Philly offense because I don't think they're going to change anything. They're just going to try and go out there compete, make Justin throw some pitches and make mistakes because we know if if after pitchers make mistakes in the zone, the Phillies are going to get to it.

It just so happened that Christian Javier didn't make any mistakes. And the two big storylines tonight, it's the Phillies moving on from getting no hit. And then it's Justin Verlander. One of the great pitchers we all know is going to the Hall of Fame the moment he retires. But the one flaw in the resume for a guy that's had a lot of success in his careers in the World Series, he's 0 and 6 with an over 6 ERA. Tonight, Verlander, where's your confidence level at with him? Well, there's so many things that you can manipulate and comment on and say that are pushing in the right direction for Justin Verlander, just in the sense that he had an opportunity to watch what Lance McCullers did. He had an opportunity to see what Christian Javier did.

And then you say the legacy. This might be his last start of 2022, which is going to be a Cy Young year. But this is really an opportunity to create legacy and really erase some of the issues he's had in past World Series because if he goes out there and pitches up to the standard that he has during the regular season and really does a good job of creating swing and miss and really doing a job of a good job of keeping his team in this ballgame, then we are going to remember Justin Verlander is that guy that went out there and won game five in a hostile environment and put the Astros one game away from winning their second World Series in the last six years. I think that's the mentality he's got to go in with, but he's also had the opportunity to go to school on his start. He's had an opportunity to go to school on what Christian Javier did in last night's game.

And you got to keep in mind, he's got the fastball that actually has more velocity than a Christian Javier. Can he make that work to set up his slider and his breaking ball to go out there and compete? So a lot of what's going into this game today is basically summing up the last 14 years that he's been in the big leagues to go out there and try and get himself another ring. With the way that it seems like momentum is starting to shift after game four, do you agree that this game is more important for Philadelphia tonight, especially when you have game six and seven, if necessary, in Houston? Yeah, I think they would like the idea if you're Philadelphia going into Houston knowing that you just need to win one game. I think it's a little bit tougher task knowing that you've got to go in there and win two games. You know, that's how every team has felt on the road, but this whole World Series has been so unique. And, you know, what actually in the past, the home field advantage hasn't actually been in the Astros' favor, but I think still if they're able to win the game five, go into Houston knowing they just need to win one of two like the Phillies are going to try and do, I think it would be a lot of fun for these guys to know they end up with one game to win as opposed to two. And anytime you have an opportunity to go on the road and try and win one of two, that's the idea, split on the road. And if the Phillies are able to win today, split on the road, they've got themselves a championship, but obviously the Astros have different ideas. Jeff Blum here with us. You know, Jeff, it's kind of crazy with how poorly Nola and Wheeler have pitched in this World Series, how it's all tied up at two games apiece. I'm really surprised that this is 2-2 with the way that both those guys have got beat up in this series.

It is. I agree. You know, being here in Houston and watching the way they competed against the Seattle Mariners, who put up a really good fight, obviously the familiarity there allowed them the opportunity to prove to be good competition, but they absolutely blew the doors off the New York Yankees, who didn't provide as much balance as the Philadelphia Phillies did, and the Astros worked them over in a pretty good fashion. I think the expectation was to go into this Phillies series in the World Series and do the same thing, but you've got to remember that Phillies have one of the top five payrolls in all of baseball. Their expectation in spring training was to go out there and compete for the National League East, and now they're in a position playing up to their expectations under Rob Thompson. So it's not a surprise that it's this tight, but it's been a surprise to me that it's really been kind of a seesaw battle where the Astros have gotten to the likes of Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler, who are two of their best pitchers.

I thought that's probably been the most fascinating part about it. You being around the organization and still involved with the team calling the games, Jeff Blum, is the cheating scandal still a big deal? Because I'm kind of over it by now. We've seen how much sustained success the Astros had now. They haven't won a World Series since the scandal, but they've consistently been there.

Yeah, and I actually appreciate you saying that because I know it's kind of tough to be in the Northeast, I would imagine, and talk about that and not bring that up. But it's still something that is obviously an astral war just in the sense that, you know, Rob Manfred took the opportunity to pinpoint the Astros and put a lot of it on them. But I really think since that 2017 season, the way you've seen the Astros perform in 18, 19, 20, 21, and now 22 has probably done a very good job, you know, outside of fan bases, but inside media or inside baseball circles, really kind of explained that the Astros are a legitimate, a legitimate organization who's going out there trying to go out there and win.

And they've done it the right way in the last five or six years since that whole issue popped up. And I don't think fan bases are ever going to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I appreciate the fact that people who really follow this sport, really dig in on the numbers, appreciate the fact that they continue to go out there, lose George Springer, lose Carlos Correa. You start to lose some big pieces from that 2017 team.

And guess what? They still go out there and compete. Thick straight American League Championship Series.

They're gone. They've gone to their fourth World Series in six years. So I think that speaks a lot to the fact that they've actually been able to play really good baseball despite that scar that is on them a little bit. And hopefully someday, if they don't win this year or if they do win this year, hopefully someday down the road, we can all sit back and go, man, these guys played great baseball. It was a lot of fun to watch even with that discouragement and that scar from 2017. What would it mean for you to see Dusty Baker finally get a ring?

Oh, man, you know what? Dusty is one of the greatest guys in all of baseball. And I say that from a fan perspective, having watched him, you know, throughout the course of his career, playing with the LA Dodgers when I grew up in Los Angeles, and then competing against him as a player in the National League Central when he was with Cincinnati, when he was with Chicago. And then I get to call his games here in Houston and get to know him even better as a person. And all of a sudden, you know, that endearment of Dusty and what he's been through in this game and what he's brought to this game and how he's handled being the leader of an organization that did have a lot of visceral comments, a lot of polarizing guys on their team. And the way he's handled it with such grace and put up the numbers he's been able to do, I want nothing more than Dusty Baker to win a championship trophy, raise that thing above his head, and then start writing that Hall of Fame speech because that would really be icing on the cake.

And, you know, truly selfishly, just on a personal level, I would love to see that man raise the trophy. Last thing I'll ask you, we're all harping on Justin Verlander tonight. I have no clue what to expect out of Noah's Cinderguard. What do you think Thor will do in the game?

I think Thor's going to be good. We had a chance to watch him with the Angels pitch against the Astros without the Thor-like 100-mile-an-hour fastball. And I was actually, you know, I probably shouldn't say it, but I was pleasantly surprised the way he was able to adjust off not throwing 100 miles an hour. He's developed a very good two-seam fastball.

I was thoroughly surprised to see how many ground ball outs he was able to get out, get throughout the course of the year. And then that slider's been very good. What those two pitches does is actually split the plate pretty good. So the right-handed hitters for the Astros are going to have to find a way to clear out the front side to compete with the two-seamer in. And once they start to do that, I would expect Thor to go to the outside corner with that slider and how they defend that. So it's going to be a little bit of a chess match, but I would anticipate that Rob Thompson's probably going to have a pretty short leash. I would actually, you know, maybe, in my opinions, be surprised if he goes more than one time through the lineup.

I think that he's going to try and get three innings out of Cinderguard and then he's going to go to that bullpen. Jeff Blum, we appreciate the time. Enjoy the game number five tonight in the Out of the World Series. I appreciate that. Great being on with you. Thank you. Thank you.