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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the externing postgame show with Bill Laski.

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Speaker 1: My guest wears number ninety three for the Orange and

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Speaker 1: Black coming out of the bullpen, the big lefty. Let's

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Speaker 1: bring in Matt Cage. Matt, how are you today? I'm

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Speaker 1: doing well?

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Speaker 2: How are you?

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Speaker 1: I'm doing good? Little toasty in Arizona as you're leaving

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Speaker 1: to come up to play the Rivercats in the exhibition

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Speaker 1: game and then a couple more exhibition games and the

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Speaker 1: season starts. How's Arizona treating you these days?

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Speaker 2: Arizona's a little too hot for March, that's for sure.

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Speaker 3: So it's been nice to come back to Arizona and

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Speaker 3: be back with the Giants. But it's a little steamy

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Speaker 3: out here. It's one hundred and threes, or at least

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Speaker 3: that's what it feels like, so it's not very fun.

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Speaker 2: But it's been a good spring training, that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: Well, like you said, you're coming back to the San

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Speaker 1: Francisco Giants. You were drafted from them originally in twenty fourteen.

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Speaker 1: Coming back though as a big league a little different.

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Speaker 1: A Scottchdale Stadium, a little different, Papago a great complex.

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Speaker 1: How do you like coming back and seeing all the changes.

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Speaker 3: The biggest thing was when I first got out here,

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Speaker 3: we were over at Papla Goal and it's it is

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Speaker 3: completely different than where I was at over On Indian

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Speaker 3: School in Hayden's.

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Speaker 2: It's a lot of money.

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Speaker 3: Went into Papula Go and they did a really good

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Speaker 3: job of turning that place around because the A's were

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Speaker 3: there when I was here in fourteen. To see what

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Speaker 3: it is now, it's it's crazy. But then coming back

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Speaker 3: over to Scott's Still Stadium and seeing the money they

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Speaker 3: put in there, it's been. It's been just a treat

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Speaker 3: to be a part of this organization and see what

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Speaker 3: has changed all the years that I was with the

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Speaker 3: Giants before and see what it was back with. So

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Speaker 3: it's been it's been a lot of fun to just

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Speaker 3: be around. We've got a lot of guys that came

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Speaker 3: back to the organization this year, like some former players,

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Speaker 3: some former coaches, So seeing people that I saw when

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Speaker 3: I first got drafted I talked with and it's been

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Speaker 3: nothing but nothing but good things out here. That's that's

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Speaker 3: It's one of the nicest things that I've seen in

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Speaker 3: the Giants and organizations was coming back and seeing old coaches,

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Speaker 3: old players, and just getting to talk with them about

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Speaker 3: how they won and how that's the winning mentality.

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Speaker 1: This year, it sure did. And boy boy ten, twelve

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Speaker 1: and fourteen some fabulous years. I want to go back

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Speaker 1: in time with a little bit, Like we talked about

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Speaker 1: getting drafted by the San Francisco Giants in twenty fourteen

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Speaker 1: out of Siena College you ended up going to rookie

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Speaker 1: ball Augusta, Richmond, Sacramento. You went through the minor leagues

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Speaker 1: with the San Francisco Giants a couple fantastic years, and

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Speaker 1: then toward the end it was a little scuffle and

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Speaker 1: a little bit toward the end with with the Rivercats.

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Speaker 1: When you go back and you reminiss was it exactly

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Speaker 1: what you thought it would be becoming a major league player?

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Speaker 3: I mean, the biggest thing to me was I got

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Speaker 3: to go to Augusta at first, and then I made

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Speaker 3: a spot star in twenty sixteen in Richmond that I

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Speaker 3: ended up staying it there and then the following years

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Speaker 3: went back And I mean, honestly, I was a very

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Speaker 3: good doublea pitcher. I could pitch on the East Coast,

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Speaker 3: but when I got up to Sacramento, I could not

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Speaker 3: figure out the PCL. I was not a good trip

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Speaker 3: a pitcher. Guys were guys were able to hit my stuff.

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Speaker 3: I just it just didn't move on the West Coast.

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Speaker 3: So now coming back and being back with the Giants

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Speaker 3: and being on the West Coast and going through everything

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Speaker 3: and reminiscing of how my career has played out. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I always tell people it's my career has been been

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Speaker 3: a process, but I want to trade it for anything.

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Speaker 3: I've gone to some places that I don't think I've

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Speaker 3: ever gone to before in my life by playing baseball,

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Speaker 3: and it's it's been a grind, but it's just made

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Speaker 3: my made my journey fun, and it's it's still going.

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Speaker 3: And that's all I keep caring about. As long as

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Speaker 3: I continue to keep pushing forward and I keep having

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Speaker 3: a job to continue to keep playing, that's all I'm

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Speaker 3: looking forward to doing. And it's it's great that I

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Speaker 3: get to do it with the Giants who drafted me

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Speaker 3: and gave me my first opportunity in professional baseball.

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Speaker 1: That voice you heard the externing post game showing the

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Speaker 1: big left hand or coming out of the bullpen, Matt Gage.

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Speaker 1: I want to go back a little bit too. You

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Speaker 1: talk about starting with the Giants, bouncing around with the

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Speaker 1: two three different organizations, When did you become a bullpen pitcher?

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Speaker 2: So it actually was COVID.

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Speaker 3: So we were we were sitting at I was actually

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Speaker 3: down in Mexico City, UH, for spring training, and we

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Speaker 3: all of a sudden, you know, the two weeks thing happened,

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Speaker 3: COVID happened. We got sent home, and you know, the

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Speaker 3: whole thing was Okay, you know, we'll be back, We'll

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Speaker 3: be back, and then the seasons all got canceled. So

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Speaker 3: I'm sitting at home and I'm talking to my wife

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Speaker 3: and I just felt that, Like I said, I felt

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Speaker 3: like I plateaued as a pitcher because I could throw

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Speaker 3: in double A, but I couldn't pitch at the triple

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Speaker 3: A level.

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Speaker 2: So I was like, how do I get better?

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Speaker 3: I'm in Mexico, Like, if I stay down there, yeah,

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Speaker 3: I could have a good career and have some fun playing.

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Speaker 3: I can might be able to get to Taiwan or Korea,

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Speaker 3: but maybe Japan's out of the out of the question.

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Speaker 3: So it was like, how do how do I just

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Speaker 3: get better? How do I continue to continue to keep

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Speaker 3: And I threw it. I think probably an eighty pitch bullpen.

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Speaker 3: My wife stud in the box, had a catcher behind

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Speaker 3: the plate, no data, and I just asked perception wise,

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Speaker 3: and I just kept changing my armslot and I was

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Speaker 3: throwing all the same pitches and I was just like,

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Speaker 3: what are you seeing? And then I went to independent

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Speaker 3: ball in Sugarland, Texas for COVID and I made my

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Speaker 3: first appearance out of the bullpen. I hit ninety four,

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Speaker 3: and that off season the Arizona Diamondbacks called and said, hey,

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Speaker 3: we want you. We want to try to see if

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Speaker 3: you can do this out of the bullpen for us,

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Speaker 3: and they gave me my first opportunity out of the bullpen.

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Speaker 3: So actually the Arizona Diamondbacks, they are the ones who

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Speaker 3: took a fire on me and got me back into

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Speaker 3: affiliated baseball.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt, both of us are pitchers. I was a

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Speaker 1: starting pitcher just like you did. You go to the bullpen.

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Speaker 1: It's a different mindset. It's also a different way to

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Speaker 1: warm up. You always go to that number one first

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Speaker 1: and you go to your secondary pitches. You got a

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Speaker 1: great sliderer, your sliders getting better as you get older.

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Speaker 1: But what do you think about once the call is

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Speaker 1: up and Matt gge, you got to get up and go.

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Speaker 1: What is your first thoughts?

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Speaker 2: Uh, the biggest thing is where's my pocket? And do

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Speaker 2: I have five pitches to get going?

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Speaker 3: Or do I can I take my time and if

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Speaker 3: it's in depending on the situation.

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Speaker 2: If I have five pitches, it's just move the body

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Speaker 2: as fast as possible.

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Speaker 3: If I have some time, it's okay, try to throw

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Speaker 3: this pitch that pitch, kind of try to get the

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Speaker 3: feel of them and that way when you go out there,

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Speaker 3: you're able to compete with what you got. But I mean,

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Speaker 3: every all the situations are different, because like there's times

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Speaker 3: that you know you're sitting there and it's not your spot,

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Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden something happens. It's like,

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Speaker 3: oh wait the situation changes. Hey, like get going, and

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Speaker 3: then you know, five pitches later, the guys out of

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Speaker 3: it and they're like, hey, are you ready, and it's

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Speaker 3: like sure, and go in and just compete. And that's

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Speaker 3: one of the things is as a bullpen arm, it's

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Speaker 3: just something you had to learn. And luckily enough I've

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Speaker 3: been able to learn that and I've been a little

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Speaker 3: bit successful by just kind of just going and just

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Speaker 3: going competing. Whatever I have that day I got And

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Speaker 3: sometimes I use the analogy of sometimes you just got

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Speaker 3: to dance with the girl you brought the.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good way to put it too. Matt

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Speaker 1: Gags joined me on the Extra Inning postgame show. I

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Speaker 1: want to recap twenty twenty five because you pitch outstanding

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Speaker 1: for a period of time where I want to talk

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Speaker 1: about consistency. You were started off with the Tigers July second.

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Speaker 1: You ended up coming up with the San Francisco Giants.

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Speaker 1: You ended up going to Sacramento. You had five appearances there,

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Speaker 1: you go two to zero, five and a third innings,

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Speaker 1: pitched really well, four strikeouts. You come up to the

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Speaker 1: San Francisco Giants July eighteenth, the season started for you.

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Speaker 1: You go for the month of July, five appearances, five

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Speaker 1: and a third innings, two hits, that was it, two walks,

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Speaker 1: five strikeouts in those first five appearances in July. All

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Speaker 1: eyes are on you. How much stress did you put

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Speaker 1: on yourself and how did you have a time to

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Speaker 1: relax and just try to say, hey, I just got

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Speaker 1: to be Matt Cage. I just got to get people

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Speaker 1: out because right now I'm in the big leagues.

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Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, it was actually really nice hearing you

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Speaker 3: say all that. But it compete because my entire career,

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Speaker 3: I've always been that guy that's gone up for a week,

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Speaker 3: gone down. Yeah. I was up with the Tigers for

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Speaker 3: I think I don't know ten days and then got

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Speaker 3: shipped out of there. So it's just that's the way

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Speaker 3: my that's the way my career has been. So it's

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Speaker 3: just been one of those things of like, Okay, can

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Speaker 3: we kind of can we kind of figure this out

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Speaker 3: and just kind of progress and continue to get the

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Speaker 3: job done, And as long as I continue to compete,

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Speaker 3: I can get to I can keep my job.

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Speaker 2: Honestly, Like that was what all I was thought. And

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Speaker 2: every day I showed up, I can.

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Speaker 3: I kept going out there and they just kept calling

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Speaker 3: my number, and it was just trying to stay consistent.

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Speaker 3: And then July started turning into August and it was

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Speaker 3: the same thing. And then I got used even more

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Speaker 3: and it was like, Okay, the team's actually leaning on you.

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Speaker 3: Because my entire career, I've always been the guy throwing

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Speaker 3: to throw up nine or down nine, right, I've never

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Speaker 3: been the guy to throw a leverage in ing, so

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Speaker 3: It was just one of those things of like can

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Speaker 3: you get the job.

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Speaker 2: Done when they call upon you?

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Speaker 3: And then it was just all right, just go compete

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Speaker 3: and keep doing it, and if you can, you're in

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Speaker 3: a good spot. And if they come to you and

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Speaker 3: they want to make a decision, then that's what other

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Speaker 3: organizations have done in my career, and like we just

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Speaker 3: we kind of see what the how the cards fall

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Speaker 3: and where our next opportunity is.

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Speaker 1: Well, Matt, that's where I want to go. Consistency. We

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Speaker 1: talked about the month of July. We're going to go

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Speaker 1: into that month of August thirteen appearances and for seventeen appearances,

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Speaker 1: your first seventeen appearances in a Giant's uniform, you only

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Speaker 1: give up two earned runs. And that shows the consistency

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Speaker 1: you just talked about. Give me the ball, let me

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Speaker 1: do my job. Doesn't matter when I throw. I just

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Speaker 1: want to get people out. How did you move over

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Speaker 1: that seventeen appearances? Seventeen straight appearances and you were red hot?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was just one of those things

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Speaker 3: is like if if Bob comes calls down and it's

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Speaker 3: your name called upon, just go compete.

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Speaker 2: If that's what you got to do. Then, and that's

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Speaker 2: what you're gonna do.

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Speaker 3: And that's all I cared about, was just going on

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Speaker 3: competing for the team and trying to trying to do

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Speaker 3: my job and get the offense back in the dugout.

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Speaker 2: And I mean it was I threw a lot.

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Speaker 3: I mean there's games in August that I warmed up two, three,

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Speaker 3: four times and I didn't even get in the ballgame,

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Speaker 3: and those those kind of tick a toll and it's like, okay,

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Speaker 3: like can you continue to keep doing it? And it's

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Speaker 3: just like, yeah, like here we go, just keep doing it.

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Speaker 3: And then September came and I'm not gonna lie. I

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Speaker 3: looked at my wife on September first, and I said,

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Speaker 3: we still got twenty two of these things. And I'm

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Speaker 3: exhausted because last year I threw the most innings I've

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Speaker 3: ever thrown in my life out of the bullpen. And

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Speaker 3: it was September came and it was like can you

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Speaker 3: keep doing this? And I just kept showing up to

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Speaker 3: the field, trying to put my best foot forward, but

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Speaker 3: my body was not ready to try to throw almost

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Speaker 3: seventy total innings across Toledo, Detroit, Sacramento and the Giants.

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Speaker 1: Well, you ended up going twenty seven appearances and that

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Speaker 1: was outstanding for you. At the same wer Cisco Giants

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Speaker 1: in the month of September, a couple hiccups, nothing major, though,

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Speaker 1: you still got in nine appearances, but overall numbers thirty

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Speaker 1: one innings pitch, thirty five hits. I love the ratio

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Speaker 1: of eleven waks twenty seven strikeouts. That was fabulous. But

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Speaker 1: the big number you had was no home runs, and

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Speaker 1: I think that's a big, big plus coming out of

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Speaker 1: bullpen as a left hander in certain scenarios and keeping

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Speaker 1: the ball in the ballpark. Tell me how you did that.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it was just trying to trust my stuff,

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Speaker 3: just going out there, and you know, there's times that

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Speaker 3: I threw really good pitches and I got hit, and

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Speaker 3: there's times that I threw pitches down the middle that

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Speaker 3: went right to somebody. So it's just the way baseball is.

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Speaker 3: You throw really good pitches and you get hit. I mean,

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Speaker 3: the hitters are getting paid too, they're really good at

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Speaker 3: what they do. So it's just I just went out

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Speaker 3: there and just tried to compete, and luckily no one

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Speaker 3: was able to lift the ball far enough to get

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Speaker 3: over the fence. I mean, I did give up some

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Speaker 3: balls to the track, but they didn't just fly over

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Speaker 3: the wall, So it was it was one of those things,

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Speaker 3: is just competing with what I had that day and

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Speaker 3: trusting my stuff, and luckily enough, I didn't give up

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Speaker 3: any homers. And I think that's one of the reasons

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Speaker 3: why the Giants actually brought me back.

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Speaker 1: Well, you're a damn good left handed pitcher too, don't

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Speaker 1: forget about that.

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Speaker 2: And I'll tell you that too, but I appreciate that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. As we finish up with Matt Gates here in

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Speaker 1: the ex ray postgame show, let's look into twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Health is a major concern, no doubt about it. Having

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Speaker 1: more appearances a plus. What are you and expectations from

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Speaker 1: Matt gags for this season?

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Speaker 3: Well, honestly, the biggest thing for me this offseason. I

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Speaker 3: was talking with all the coaches. I talked with the

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Speaker 3: strength coaches, and one of the biggest things that we

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Speaker 3: put forward was trying to get my body ready to

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Speaker 3: throw eighty plus eighty plus appearances out of the bullpenal

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Speaker 3: wo because like we talked about, is my body wasn't

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Speaker 3: ready to throw seventy plus innings like as a reliever.

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Speaker 3: I was probably right around forty five to fifty innings

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Speaker 3: a year, So my weight training and my running was

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Speaker 3: a little bit, you know, skewed toward that. I'd get

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Speaker 3: in the weight room and I'd kind of football left,

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Speaker 3: like I was just throwing weight around the whole weight

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Speaker 3: room and I felt I felt strong.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 3: Then all of a sudden, like I said, September comes

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Speaker 3: and I was already almost I think sixty innings, and

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Speaker 3: it was like, I don't know if I can do

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Speaker 3: this right now, Like I can't get in the.

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Speaker 2: Weight room and just throw weight around. My body can't.

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Speaker 3: Just so We've changed some things in the weight room,

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Speaker 3: changed some things running wise. Just try to get the

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Speaker 3: body to throw eighty appearances. I know we have a

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Speaker 3: new strength coach, Q and every time he sees me,

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Speaker 3: he always keeps reminding me eighty plus appearances, eighty plus appearances,

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Speaker 3: like So that's kind of just the mentality that we're

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Speaker 3: taking this year, is just getting the body ready and

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Speaker 3: the arm ready to just have as many appearances as possible,

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Speaker 3: because I mean, we lost Tyrog and that's what that

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Speaker 3: was his that was his role. So I'm not trying

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Speaker 3: to be tied, but if I can fill in those

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Speaker 3: innings that he was eating, I'll do my best.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's look forward to a great season from Matt Gage.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate your time, looking forward to seeing you again

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Speaker 1: at Oracle Park. And stay healthy here as we continue

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Speaker 1: to finish out spring training, and let's look for a

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Speaker 1: great season for number ninety three.

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Speaker 2: Amen to that, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: That was Matt Gage on the Externing postgame Show. More

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Speaker 1: coming up right here on K and BR The Sports

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Speaker 1: Leader