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Speaker 1: Yeah, eleven o'clock straight up here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

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It is our number two of the Matt Thomas Show

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with Ross.

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Speaker 2: Without Matt Thomas.

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Speaker 1: He is with his son celebrating his son's college graduation

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and his young son's dream trip for his vacation, going

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with dad to see Barry Manilow and Carrot Tops. So

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he is in Vegas. Brian McTaggart is here with us. Brian,

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your thoughts on Carrot Top, boy, that sounds like we're

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really missing out on that. Yeah, Carrot Carrott Top was okay,

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like twenty years ago or something.

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Speaker 2: But I don't know, No, you don't know. I know

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what you do know about?

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Speaker 1: You know about the Astros, Brian mctagger covering the Astros

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for MLB dot com and all these storylines, Brian, and

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honestly a lot of complaining from myself fan bases all that,

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like the injuries, jord On hand stuff and underperformances from

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Yiner and Walker until last night and here we are

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four games up in the American League West.

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Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you tip your hat to the Astros,

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but also the division is really bad. I mean, yes,

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this everybody's below five hundred except the Astros. I mean,

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the Angels are tied with the Mariners for second. I mean,

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the Angels are not good. I know some Angels fans

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were getting excited about, you know now that they're in

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second place. Well, it's because the Mariners are just as

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bad as you are and Rangers aren't good.

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Speaker 2: I mean, but yeah, you know, props to the Ashtros.

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Speaker 3: You got to you know, you got to take out

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the trash when you play them, and so you got

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to take advantage of those situations. But yeah, I mean

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if they had been if they had been more healthy

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and those guys you talked about had hit better, I mean,

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they would have like a ten game lead right now.

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But still they have to be thrilled be where they're

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at because a four game leads a four game lead,

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and uh, you know, and you have a chance to

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build on it.

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Speaker 2: Here.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how much Mariners baseball you've been catching,

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but they have lost eight of their last nine games.

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Speaker 2: I mean, what is going on over there?

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Speaker 1: Is this something like, are the Astros just gonna run

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away with this division?

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Speaker 3: Well, unless the Mariners make changes, then probably yes, I

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mean they're they They didn't make any offensive improvements in

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the offseason. Jerry Depoto thought, you know, it was kind

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of banking on getting healthy and having some guys have

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bounced back seasons. Now, you know, cal rallies cal Rally

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has been really good. JP Crawford's been good, but Julio

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Rodriguez doesn't play like a star anymore. And you know,

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they went out and brought back Polaco, who got off

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to a really hot start, but he's cooled off. You know,

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they signed Donovan Solana, who's terrible. Mitch Garver hasn't been good.

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I mean, they just can't score. Their bullpen hasn't been great.

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I mean, you know, they have a pretty good closer,

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but and then they've had injuries to the rotation, which

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they didn't have last year.

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Speaker 2: So they're they're just not a good team right now.

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Speaker 3: So the Astros will play them after the All Star

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break in Seattle, uh, you know, with a chance to

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put more distance between them and and the Mariners. And

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they get next week to get the Angels on the roads.

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So they're going to start facing some of these teams

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at the head.

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Speaker 1: Brian McTaggert with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

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Quality stuff from Ryan Gusto last night. Where do you

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think his leash was before that started? Obviously it's longer now.

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Speaker 3: As in terms of staying in the rotation, Yes, yes,

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well I think it was long because they don't really

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have anybody else and now they're in this six man rotation,

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so they really had nowhere else to turn. I think

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unless he just went out there and you know, pitched

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one or two innings, then you would really have to reassess.

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But the fact he had career highs and innings pitched

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and pitches and strikeouts, you know, fastball hit ninety seven.

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Speaker 2: He was a lot more aggressive.

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Speaker 3: You know, it helped when he had a three zero

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lead in the first inning, but it's definitely something for

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him to build on. That's sort of the pitcher that

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we heard when they put him in the rotation that

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he was capable of pitching like that.

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Speaker 2: Hadn't done it yet.

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Speaker 3: But you know, like I said all along, they're sort

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of at the tail end of their starting pitching depth here,

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so there's not a lot of places for them to

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turn right now. You know, maybe that'll change if they

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get an arm at the deadline Righetti back in July.

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Maybe we'll see, But you know, I didn't think Gusto

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was in real danger to go anywhere because there were

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no other.

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Speaker 1: Options Christian Walker and Janner Diez with Good Knights. Walker

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the headliner, of course, but the two hard hit, hardest

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hit balls were off the bat of yanor Diez. And

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feels like we've been here a couple of times with

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both of them saying, Hey, is this the jumping off

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point for a turnaround to their seasons? What are you

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feeling on both of those guys?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right.

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Speaker 3: I mean this happens like once every week where one

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of these guys has a good game or hits the

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ball hard. You're like, Okay, maybe this is it. But

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you know, Jonner hit a couple of balls hard the

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night before as well. You know, Walker really crushed his homer.

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I think it was almost went away off the bat.

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And then I think one of the things that Joe

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Spotted brought this up too, was his third hit was

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a little bloop single to right field, and he had

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just been not getting those. He'd really been not getting

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the brakes on balls that weren't hit hard hard or

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pop ups or things like that. So I think for

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him that was probably as encouraging as the home run, like, hey,

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I'm finally starting to get some breaks here in the

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three hit game. But yeah, if you're the Astors, you

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can only hope it's you know, this is the one

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they turn it around and start building on, because man,

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if you get those two guys going, you know, in

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the five six spots of the order where wherever they're at,

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and you get jordan By healthy and playing like Jordaan,

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then you got a real chance to run away with

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the division.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: On Jiner Diaz, I was kind of a little surprised

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just looking it up earlier today. X his his batting

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average two thirty nine, but his xba's two eighty one,

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and he's had pretty bad luck with batted balls. So

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I think I'm feeling confident that if he can keep

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this up, he'll be he'll be looking better.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe that.

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Speaker 3: I mean, he drew a four pitch walk yesterday too,

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which was you know, pretty strange as well. So but yeah,

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I mean you can tell that he's hit some balls

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hard at people, and I know fans don't like hearing that.

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I mean, either get a hit or you don't, or

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you drive the ball over the fence or you don't.

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Speaker 2: But it's not like Jaanters hitting one ninety.

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Speaker 3: I mean, he's probably hitting like two forty is I'm

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guessing his ops is around seven hundred. I'm not sure.

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So it's not like he's he's been terrible. It's certainly

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below I think what everybody expected of him, but certainly

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swinging the bat well lately.

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Speaker 1: Brian mctagger continuing with us here on a Sports Talk

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seven ninety, Jeremy Pane a couple of hits again, hitting

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three twenty two and just keeps on doing it. Should

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be an All star at the shortstop position. What do

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you think is the biggest reason for his breakout, whether

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it be changing approach or maturity or I mean just

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a little bit of luck, or what do you think

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is happening with Jeremy Penia that's leading to this?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think you hit on the two biggest things.

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I mean maturity. This is his fourth year now, and

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you know he came up and had a pretty good

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rookie year and then we all know what he did

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in the playoffs and he sort of had similar years

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the next two years. You know a couple of years

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ago that the power went away in the second half.

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So he came to camp last year in twenty four

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and changed his stance. Seemed to work pretty well for him,

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but I think he made have you know, he kind

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of worked on that a little bit more and just

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try to, uh just try to refine his stance and

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his approach to where you could see the ball better,

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and that's worked out for him. I think once he

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starts getting confidence, then he realizes that, hey, this is

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the player that I know.

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Speaker 2: I can be.

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Speaker 3: But you know, props to him because you know, he's

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really worked hard the last couple of years to try

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to get to that next level, and it looks like

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he's gonna be there. I mean, certainly seems like him

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Bobby Witt or Jacob Wilson of the A's or probably

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your three best shortstops in the American League at this point.

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So I don't know if they'll take three short stops on.

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I mean, I'm guessing they probably will, But certainly Paya

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deserves a shot to be in the All Star Game,

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and who knows, maybe he starts, maybe he gets enough

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fan votes to start and know the.

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Speaker 2: Royals vote pretty well.

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Speaker 3: Sure, it'll be interesting to see what kind of voting

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support A's players get not that they have that many

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All Star caliber players, but just I mean, is are

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people in Sacramento are gonna rush and and and punch

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punch the ballance online?

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Speaker 2: Who knows? But yeah, Penya certainly deserves to be in

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the All Star Game.

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Speaker 1: I'd say one of the reasons the Astros have been

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so successful is they've had these guys that kind of

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just live and breathe and love baseball. Born ball players,

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I would say, you know, like Carlos Kray, Alex Bregman,

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Josel Tuve. Would you put Jeremy Penny in that category?

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, He's definitely a ballplayer. I mean, he grew

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up around in ballparks. His dad played in the big

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leagues for seven or eight years. So this is, you know,

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what he wanted to do all along, this is what

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he was born to do. And from day one he's

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carried himself like a like a big league player, and

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and now he's performing like an elite big league player.

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So yeah, he's he's definitely cut from that same cloth.

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You know, Bregman was a was a Jim rat, so

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to speak, as far as baseball players go. You know

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the story of him turning on the lights at LSU

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in the middle of the night so they could go

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up and field some ground balls. And you know, Kara

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is a guy who was drafted at seventeen years old

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and you know, realized his dream at an early age.

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So there there aren't many of those guys. But you know,

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Penya certainly is you know, took advantage of of uh.

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You know, the opportunity has been given to him. He's

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he's a very talented player. Defensively too, He's been terrific

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this year.

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Speaker 1: Continuing with Brian McTaggart astros dot com here on Sports

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Talk seven ninety A couple of hits for jose l

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Tuove yesterday? Where are you at on him?

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Speaker 2: In general?

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Speaker 1: To me, it's kind of harder to get a beat

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on him rather than others, Like Walker's been bad, Painia

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has been good. It's been a little bit of up

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and down with L two A. And you factor in

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the left field stuff, the fact that he is getting older.

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What are what are do you what are your expectations

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I should say for him going forward?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, he's hit the ball a lot better

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here the last couple of weeks.

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Speaker 2: I know that he was trying to hit the ball

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in the air.

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Speaker 1: Moar.

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Speaker 2: You know, he had.

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Speaker 3: He had a pretty prolonged slump there for a couple

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of weeks, I think in May and and he came

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out of it. And one of the things he said

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was that he just he was needing to hit the

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ball in the air. Where he was he was hitting

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the ball on the ground too much. And once you

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started driving the ball a little bit more, you know,

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the home run started to come back again. But I'm

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just never gonna count him out with age. I mean,

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he still gets down the line when he when he

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can an elite you know, thirty feet per second. You know,

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he can still put the bat on the ball and

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hit it, you know, as far as almost anybody. Defensively,

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he has played more second lately, but I think some

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of that in the last week or so has been

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because they have Jacob Melton, and I think Spotta wants

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to put him in the outfield to get a longer

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look at him. Also gives him that other left handed

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bat in the lineup. But you know, he's still going

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to play left field. So it's been an interesting season

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for Jose, But overall, his numbers are probably a little

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below where I would expect they would be, But it

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wouldn't surprise me if at the end of the year

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he's put up a season, you know, similar than that

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he had last year. So at some point there's going

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to be a big decline coming coming. And you know,

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but I just really haven't seen it seen it yet.

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I mean I still think, I still think, you know,

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you feel good about him.

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Speaker 2: When he's hitting near the top of that lineup.

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Speaker 1: Trade deadline seven weeks from today. Of course, we talked

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about the cushion right now in the American League West

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and how bad the division is. That Does that affect

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Dana Brown's thinking at all? Or do you think He's

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more focused on trying to win a pennant? And I mean,

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do you do you still think they will be in

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the market for a bat and an arm come deadline time?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I do.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think where they're at in the

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standings is going to have much effect. I mean, they

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want to get better and they have, you know, a

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couple of glaring ere a couple a couple of glaring

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areas where they can get better started pitching. Of course,

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I mean there's a lot of teams that need starting

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pitching so that you know, that's that's not a shock there,

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and it's not like they're going to go out and

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I think get you know, Justin Berlander in twenty eighteen

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or anybody like that. I mean, they need a guy

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that they can plug in the rotation, just give them

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a little bit more depth, and they could use a

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left handed bat. I mean, you know, maybe Melton ends

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up being that guy and they you know, they feel

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comfortable riding with him, but maybe another guy they can

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put they can play. You know, some second base fell

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two days in the left field because you know, I'm

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not sure you know, Brendan Rodgers is gonna be long

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term plans on this team. But yeah, I think if

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you have a four game lead, you want a ten

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game lead. You have a ten game lead, you want

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a fifteen game lead. And then you know, you think,

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you know, you get Alvarez back, and you get arrog

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Getty back, and who knows, maybe you see you back

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at the end of the year and now you're in

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really good shape. But you know, everyone's gonna want starting pitching.

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It's gonna be interesting to see, you know, who makes

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the first trade, because then we'll start to see these

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things start flying off the board.

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Speaker 1: I have a dumb question. Uh, Now, the Astros need

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a left handed bat, and they could use a second basement.

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Are there any left handed second basement in baseball?

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Speaker 2: Right now? Leftenant hitting second basement?

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Speaker 3: Pretty rare, right, yeah, Brandon Lowe maybe with race, I mean.

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Speaker 2: Might not be a bat. Yeah, go ahead, but yeah,

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it is.

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Speaker 3: It is pretty rare. I mean, it doesn't have to

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be a second basement. It could be somebody that can

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play multiple positions in VH. Heer there, but uh so, uh,

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you know, you're not gonna put somebody at first, You're

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not gonna put somebody at third, You're not gonna put

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somebody at shortstop or catch or there's no room. So

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you kind of limited in your roster construction where you

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could bring in a left handed bat. But if you

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could have somebody vers holed up to maybe you know,

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play some outfield in DH, you know that's also something

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they look at all.

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Speaker 2: Right, there you go.

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Speaker 1: Brian mctaggar, great stuff with him. Is always appreciate the time.

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What you got going on the old Astros dot com?

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Speaker 3: Brian, Yeah, well I had a there's a story on

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the website tonight sort of breaking down three of the

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uh he reasons the Astros won yesterday. One of them,

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i'll today getting his twenty third hundred hit dived into

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Ryan Gusto in his performance a little bit. But uh

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I have a really a really nice Father's Day story

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coming up on a on an Astro who's a first

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time father and he's gonna he's got the cleats and

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the belt to celebrate it on Sunday, so if he's

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just got to get in the lineup, but look for

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that this weekend as well.

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Speaker 1: All right, and I like you giving the nod to

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Brian A. Bray you as a guy we're not talking about,

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but is all star worthy. So appreciate the good work

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as always. Brian McTaggart of astros dot com. We'll talk

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to you down the road.

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Speaker 2: All right, Thanks bro. All Right, there you go.

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Speaker 1: Brian McTaggart astros dot com, MLB dot com does great

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work covering your Houston Astros