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Speaker 1: I'm very happy to be joined by the manager of

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your Houston Astros. Twelve thirty two is a time Matt

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and Ross with you on Sports Talk seven ninety as

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the Astros start a series of the Ace tonight, game

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and a half behind the MS in the American League West,

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and Joe was with a skip first off day in

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seventeen days. I'm going to assume your one hundred new

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list from missus the spot. It was quite lenksy.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we got a really nice time together as a family.

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It must need a break, Matt, for you know, for

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the coaches, but most important for our players. It was

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a long road and I thought we played really well

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doing those seventeen games, so we ready here to get

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going against the Ace.

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Speaker 1: To me, Skip, the biggest positive was you didn't get

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a whole lot of link out of your starting pitching

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fromber gave you some quality starts, hunting and whatnot, but

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you had a lot of nights where you're having a

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battle using your bullpen guys in the sixth inning and

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correct me if I'm wrong. It feels like everybody got

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a good amount of work, but nobody felt like they

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were overused.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so.

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Speaker 2: I think you know, that's that's been you know, one

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of our strength this season has been our bullpen and

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everybody contributing, and and everybody's getting big innings, getting you know,

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some of some of these guys four out, some of

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them are going there for two hours, uh for two innings.

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You know, credit to those guys, they've been they've been

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really good, preparing themselves very well, getting rested and like

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you mentioned, getting some quality starts from some of our

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guys and then piecing it together with with a few others.

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Speaker 3: But I thought this run was pretty good. And now

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we you know, we're.

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Speaker 2: Getting uh a few mondays off here after six in

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a row, so it should be it should be good.

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Speaker 1: You know, I was gonna ask you about your thoughts

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about the six man rotation, but really your sixth guy

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is a guy that you've bounced backwards and forwards to

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the bullpen and starting rotation. It's Ryan Gusto. Is that

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kind of the plan, at least for the foreseeable future,

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to use him as a swing guy?

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Speaker 2: You know what, Right now we are, we we're talking

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things through. You know, we do have these off days

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coming up. Gusta has done a really nice job being

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that swing man. But you know, obviously we really like

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when he goes out there and give us, give us,

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you know, strong, five innings. But he's also a piece

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that we could use in the bullpen and and and

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give us you know, strong six out six.

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Speaker 3: You know, you know, more than two innings of work.

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Speaker 2: So we're trying to figure it out what's going to

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be our next move here moving forward against the age.

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And then we got four, uh four against Tampa.

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Speaker 1: So you win three or four against Seattle. Look, a

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division can't be won or lost in late May. But

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the reality is if you had to drop three or four,

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you'd probably felt pretty sick to your stomach. Winning three

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or four kind of changes the morale of Hey, we

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survived this. We've had Jordan gone for a long period

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of time. Our starting rotation is a mess because of

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injuries at this point, and hell, we're a game and

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a half out. You really couldn't ask for much more

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at this point.

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Speaker 2: No, Yeah, the the effort was was there. You know,

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these guys, they they knew the importance of this series

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even though he's in May. But anytime you could win

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series against team in your division, you know you're gaining

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you gaining some games, you're gaining some ground, and you're

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carrying some momentum, and you don't want to be too

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far away from from these teams once, you know, June

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July come comes around. So so I thought, we we

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show up.

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Speaker 3: And we play very well.

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Speaker 2: We got some big hits when we needed to, and

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are pitching again doing a fabulous job keeping us, keeping

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us in it.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of jor don I know you're probably getting tired

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of aast basically every day, but just any update there.

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Speaker 2: He's going to run the basis today, he's going to

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do some outfield defense. We want to keep them, you know,

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in game shapes of once he tells us, So you know,

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I'm ready to go. He you know, we feel like

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he's strong enough physically, you know, lower half. Uh so

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he can uh start playing right away, but you know.

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Speaker 3: He's going to come in here today.

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Speaker 2: He's going to hit again off the machine and then

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and then we judge from there.

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Speaker 1: Astros manager Joe Spott, it was your honest sports Talks.

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How about seven hits from Cam Smith in the series.

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Looks like he's really blossoming at the plate.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he is.

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Speaker 2: He had made some adjustments he's starting to gain some confidence.

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You know, success bring some confidence to your game, and.

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Speaker 3: He's starting to.

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Speaker 2: He started to feel good about where he's at. Offensively,

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He's done a nice shop in right field. You know,

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we knew that this guy is going to be a really,

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really good player, but our job is just.

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Speaker 3: Kind of moving him along, help him.

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Speaker 2: Through this process. But he's starting to, you know, drive

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the ball, getting some I've got some big hits for us,

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and you know, excited to have him. He's he's you know,

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he's been he's been really good for us.

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Speaker 3: So you know, we'll keep him going. We'll keep an

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eye on things, and we'll keep him going.

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Speaker 1: So, Joe, if you weren't the manager of this team,

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and you and I were sitting in the bar having

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a beverage, and I said, our favorite baseball team is

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going to put a left fielder out there has ever

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played left and a right fielder has never played right before.

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You're gonna be like, oh, hell, this is how bad

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is it going to be? First of all, Cam is

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fielding his position beautifully, and then al two Bays throw

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Friday Night, which got off the base runner a boy

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like thirty feet. I mean, all things considered. I mean,

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it could have gone a lot worse. And I'm not

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trying to jinx anything here, but my goodness, especially with

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Camen right field, you guys are not missing any beat

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out there, at least defensively.

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Speaker 2: Well, we're having that beer at the bar and we're

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talking about this particular situation. I'll tell you that I

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had no doubt that these guys can do it, because

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you got to take in consideration the athlete that you're

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dealing with, the mindset off the player, the work ethic

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of the guys. So I had no doubt that these

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guys are going We're going to have some success and

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figure things out.

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Speaker 3: And we you know, we're not there yet.

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Speaker 2: They continue to work and get better. But I had

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no doubt that both of these guys have the ability

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and the mindset to make this adjustments.

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Speaker 1: What is in your mind the most difficult part of

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his transition for being a UNI or his entire life

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to playing outfield.

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Speaker 3: Is it the angles?

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Speaker 1: Is it the cutoff man? There was maybe one throw

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this weekend that you probably weren't crazy about, But generally speaking,

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what do you think is the biggest thing not necessarily

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has to overcome, but the thing that he said to you, Hey,

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I can do this, but give me some time in

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this particular area of the game.

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Speaker 3: You know, for me, it's just perception.

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Speaker 2: The ball off the bat right, you went from being

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on the infield dirt. The balls getting to you quicker,

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so you react into it much sooner. Angles and direction

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that you take to the ball are are more quicker,

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and you're reacting to the ball. Now the ball is traveling,

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you know, far the way for you know, from.

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Speaker 3: You, and you got to cover way more way more ground.

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Speaker 2: Communication it's a factor, you know in a two ways case,

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you know, having Jade to his to his left, you know,

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dealing with that game situation, knowing the speed of the

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runner and now you got to keep double place in order.

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There's so many factors that go into this, and the

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same thing with Cam. But but I think one thing

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is that we we coaching these guys up. We have

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weekly conversations with them, We show him video, we go

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over game situations and just to make sure that.

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Speaker 3: We are still teaching them how to.

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Speaker 2: Play the position and continue to adjusts as we go.

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Speaker 1: A couple more minutes here with Astro's manager Joe A

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spotted with us here on Sports Talk seven Hue eighty.

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So you've got these games coming up now with some

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off days in between. You've also mixed in a lot

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of Jose doing some dhing and I know that younger

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players never want a DH. Have you noticed a change.

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I know that Jose wants to play wherever he can play,

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left field, second base, whatever you ask him to do.

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But has he been more forthcoming and saying, you know,

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the DH days aren't the worst things in the world.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think he's open to that. I

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think Jose knows that, you know that, you know the

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behind it. It's the fact that I want to keep them,

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we want to keep them healthy, and the DH days,

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you know, it gives them an ability a chance for

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to be of his.

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Speaker 3: Feet, and he's been more open to that.

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Speaker 2: Also, he knows that gives me the ability to get

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some of these young players on the field, and he

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knows that for us when we need something, we need

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to develop these this next generations of of you know,

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major league players that are going to allow us to

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keep this winning culture going. So, you know, Hose, it's

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it's he's all in, but definitely more open to d

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h You know, I I normally text him or call

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him or tell him the night before my plans. And

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you know, he's always been honest and open with me

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how he feels when he comes to his playing time.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of that, we haven't been seeing much of Brendan

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Rodgers lately. It's been a lot of Dubon Uh. Ideally

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for you, you'd probably like to see more from him at

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the play. But how do you think that the whole

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second base situation shakes out with Rogers Factory.

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Speaker 2: In you know what he's gonna He's gonna continue to play.

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Speaker 3: Dubon has been swinging a good bat of late, so

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we we're gonna do that.

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Speaker 2: But you know, just like the so these guys, I'll

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put him in there and give them, give them opportunity

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to try to match them up with uh some pitching

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that I that I feel like they can handle.

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Speaker 3: And and but it's you know, it's.

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Speaker 2: Not an easy situation with having all these players uh here,

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and I want to get them involved and I want

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them all to contribute. So communication is important being patient

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through this process. And but but he's gonna get He's

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gonna he will get more. He will get some opportunities

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here to play.

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Speaker 1: Some and speaking of a communication, Lance Pacullors Junior on

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the hill tomorrow.

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Speaker 3: What what has that been like for you? It's very

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unique situation.

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Speaker 1: Are you still kind of checking and monitoring him more

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than most? But he did throw ninety one pitches last

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time out? Is it is it kind of like he's

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just one of the guys. Now, where are you at

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with them?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 2: You know, I think he's always been one of the guys.

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You know. I always just talk to them, make sure

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that he feels okay. I'll watch his bullpen just to

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make sure that he's that he's the process is in

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plays that he's not rushing to any of this or

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we're not rushing them to any of this. So he's

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been he's been really good. He's bouncing back very well.

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He's working the weight room.

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Speaker 3: He's great.

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Speaker 2: He's bullpens in between starts. Uh, we have like no

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issues now, is Uh? He'd be more efficient in the games,

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throwing strips, putting guys away. Uh, so he could, so

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he could get us.

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Speaker 3: Deep in the game.

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Speaker 2: And and I'm listen, the stuff is there. It's just

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more execution and once he gets to going, I could

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see him, you know, pitching deep in our games.

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Speaker 1: It felt like to me, Skip, you were trying everything

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in your power to keep him out there for that

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fifth inning and to get that victory, and that that

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had to be a hard walk for you, knowing that

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he couldn't get it because of that.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, you know, really trying.

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Speaker 2: But he also you know, he understands, you know, we

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were trying to his health, trying to keep him healthy

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and and we're trying to win games. But yeah, I

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really wanted him to get that the lass out there

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in the fifth inning. Uh, him in a position to

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win a games, but he'll he'll win. He'll win some

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games here coming up.

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Speaker 1: Skip, great visitors always, good lucka inst the ace tonight.

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We'll talk again next week. We appreciate it as.

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Speaker 3: Always, Bye fellas, thank you got it.

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Speaker 1: That is manager Joe spotted with us here on Sports

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Talk seven ninety