{"id":388082,"date":"2026-07-27T19:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T19:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/388082\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T19:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T19:46:17","slug":"astros-manager-joe-espada-drops-a-blunt-quote-after-loss-to-white-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/388082\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros Manager Joe Espada Drops a Blunt Quote After Loss To White Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">Coming out of the All-Star break, the Houston Astros were one of a handful of teams that faced a huge couple of weeks leading up to the Aug. 3 trade deadline. They were one of the few teams that were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Are they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/astros-reportedly-turn-down-trade-interest-from-american-league-rival\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">going to be a buyer or a seller<\/a>? That was the question facing them.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">The Baltimore Orioles came to Houston and swept the Astros, putting their deadline path in doubt. However, Houston responded by sweeping the struggling Miami Marlins before winning the first two games of a weekend series against the American League Central Division-leading Chicago White Sox. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">Joe Espada&#8217;s team came up short on Sunday in completing a second straight sweep, falling 12-3 to the White Sox. After that loss, manager Joe Espada, who could be considered on the hot seat along with general manager Dana Brown, didn&#8217;t mince words about Houston bouncing back and pushing the front office down the path of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/why-astros-elite-bullpen-has-become-trade-deadline-priority\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">buying at the deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Astros Manager Joe Espada Didn&#8217;t Mince Words About His Team Bouncing Back This Week<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01kyj55xkm7cgq6zp3cf.jpg\" alt=\"Houston Astros manager Joe Espada \" title=\"Houston Astros manager Joe Espada \" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7l\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Joe Espada | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7p\">After Sunday&#8217;s game, Houston traveled to Southern California to open a three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels, who are struggling themselves. Buried in last place in the AL West, this is a golden opportunity for the Astros to climb in both the division and wild-card standings. Espada sounded confident his team would bounce back quickly and continue in the direction of potentially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/which-bullpen-target-makes-most-sense-for-astros\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">buying at the deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7s\">\u201cI think we have reacted very well,\u201d Espada said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/astros\/news\/astros-5-game-winning-streak-snapped-against-white-sox\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">per Andy Martinez of MLB.com<\/a>. \u201cWe got some momentum. Just because we lost this game doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re going to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\">If there is an opponent that could continue the good times and keep the momentum going for the Astros, it&#8217;s the Angels. Houston opens the series two games back of the Cleveland Guardians in the wild-card race for the third and final AL spot, while also being just two games back of the Texas Rangers in the AL West race.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7y\">Considering where Houston was a month into the season, they have done a nice job of clawing their way back into the postseason race. They were written off in May and June, but they have slowly turned things around and have taken advantage of a watered-down American League. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"81\">The upcoming week will be crucial for the Astros as they approach the trade deadline. After playing three games against the Angels, Houston will return home to face the Rangers. The objective is to secure wins and maintain pressure on the teams ahead of them in the standings. If they can reduce their deficits over the next week, it will also simplify the decision-making process for the front office regarding any moves that need to be made for the final two months of the season.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming out of the All-Star break, the Houston Astros were one of a handful of teams that faced&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-388082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}