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Speaker 1: The nighttime is the right time for sports Phone KNBR.

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Speaker 1: Let's go on the Sports Leader streaming live on YouTube

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Speaker 1: at KNBR one O four five.

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Speaker 2: Back on sports Phone KNBR with Bill Laski as we

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Speaker 2: catch down to the last half hour of the show

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Speaker 2: before we go to Dubs OT Dubs. Of course, the

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Speaker 2: Warriors are playing the Chicago Bulls over Chase and I

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Speaker 2: want to catch in going on that score, but I

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Speaker 2: keep you close. But the game we're watching is definitely

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Speaker 2: the WBC and the United States is losing after eight innings,

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Speaker 2: eight to five to Italy. It's going to play a big,

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Speaker 2: big thing here with the run differential if United States

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Speaker 2: loses this game, and of course tomorrow will be the

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Speaker 2: big game, Mexico against Italy. That's a lot of tough

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Speaker 2: games there. There's a lot of good town a lot

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Speaker 2: of good players, and of course we're all rooting for USA.

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Speaker 2: But they fell behind quick and they were being shut

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Speaker 2: out through five innings and now they're battling back eight five.

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Speaker 2: They still at the top of the ninth inning. We'll

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Speaker 2: keep your breast as this thing goes. In the last

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Speaker 2: half hour. My final guest, my good friend. I always

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Speaker 2: talk to him on Friday nights. We're gonna do it

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Speaker 2: again this year. And he just got done going to

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Speaker 2: a nice cow event. Let's bring on Steve Croner. Steve,

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Speaker 2: I'm worry this evening.

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Speaker 3: Bill.

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Speaker 4: I'm doing fine. And in this era of full disclosure

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Speaker 4: of what your audience know, they're going to hear a

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Speaker 4: Bart train just zipping past me. Momentarily. I'm in the

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Speaker 4: Berkeley bart State station, ready to head back to the city,

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Speaker 4: but not before I talk to you.

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Speaker 2: So we're talking live with Steve Kroner right now. We

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Speaker 2: are really going to be live here in a minute.

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Speaker 2: But let me just ask you, where did you go?

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Speaker 2: What did you do with tonight? And I know it

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Speaker 2: was an introduction or maybe it was more of a

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Speaker 2: media introduction to the new football coach.

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Speaker 4: Bill. To be honest with you, I missed the first

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Speaker 4: part of your question because the train was pretty loud

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Speaker 4: going by me. So if you could repeat it, I'd

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Speaker 4: appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you were at cal tonight at Berkeley talking football

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Speaker 2: and the new football head coach was introduced? Was that

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Speaker 2: with the media? Where was that? The presentation about it was.

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Speaker 4: Very well done. Was a thing called the Berkeley Forum,

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Speaker 4: which is a student run interview series, and they interview

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Speaker 4: many big time people. I believe Steve Kerr is supposed

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Speaker 4: to be on the docket next month. And they've interviewed

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Speaker 4: politicians and newsmakers and alike, and get some sports people

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Speaker 4: as well. And so the student who did the interview

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Speaker 4: of Toshley Toy, the Cal football head coach, a kid

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Speaker 4: named Benjamin Wong, did an excellent job. It was about

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Speaker 4: a forty five minute Q and a both entertaining and informative.

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Speaker 2: Were you surprised with the hire of Tosh? Were you

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Speaker 2: interested a little bit more in other candidates? Were you

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Speaker 2: involved in any of that?

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Speaker 4: Steve, I certainly wasn't involved. Nobody asked for my opinion

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Speaker 4: on that, But to be honest, I was not. I

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Speaker 4: would well, I appreciate that. To be honest, I was

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Speaker 4: not completely surprised. Tosh was kind of the logical choice

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Speaker 4: once the Bears parted ways with Justin Wilcox, who's a

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Speaker 4: fine individual. Have tons of respect for Justine, but once

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Speaker 4: once he was let go, I think Tosh was the

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Speaker 4: logical choice. He'd been around college football, he'd been around

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Speaker 4: the NFL, He'd been around Nick Saban and Urban Meyer,

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Speaker 4: and Dan Lanning at Oregon, he played at Cal, he

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Speaker 4: coached at Cal. I think he was I think he

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Speaker 4: was the logical choice.

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Speaker 2: You know, as you're looking forward to the Cal football

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Speaker 2: program getting going here in twenty twenty six, tell me

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Speaker 2: a little bit about the program. Is it a committee

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Speaker 2: as strong as it was last year?

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Speaker 4: Well, I think Cal would like to think it's gonna

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Speaker 4: be better than last year. Last year again was a

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Speaker 4: solid season for Cal, but not a great one, seven

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Speaker 4: and six overall, lost the big game for the first

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Speaker 4: time in five years. And after that big game loss

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Speaker 4: was when Justin Wilcox was let go. I mean, Justin,

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Speaker 4: the Cal program has been solid but not great for

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Speaker 4: a long time. I think Cal fans and certainly people

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Speaker 4: in the Cal community would like to see that next

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Speaker 4: step to go from, you know, a team that wins five, six,

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Speaker 4: seven games to a team that wins nine, ten to

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Speaker 4: eleven games. And could that be this season? I think

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Speaker 4: it's certainly plausible. You know, they talk about the good

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Speaker 4: transfer portal class that toash Nuploy was able to acquire

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Speaker 4: while he was still being the defensive coordinator for Again.

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Speaker 4: But I think he'll tell you, I think most people

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Speaker 4: around Cal will tell you his important acquisition was keeping

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Speaker 4: Jaren Kiave Sagapolo tell who was a freshman Whizz quarterback

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Speaker 4: last season, to keep him from getting into the transfer portal.

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Speaker 4: In fact, there's the story that Tosh the day he

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Speaker 4: was introduced to the Cal media and the Cal public

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Speaker 4: in early December, he left that news conference and flew

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Speaker 4: to Hawaii where Saga Polo Telly had been with his

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Speaker 4: family and just made sure he met Jaren and made

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Speaker 4: sure that Jaren was going to be staying with the Bears.

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Speaker 4: And he was able to do that, And I think that,

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Speaker 4: more than anything else, gives Cal fans a lot of

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Speaker 4: justifiable hope for twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 2: Steve Corner joining me on sports phone KMBR tonight. You

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Speaker 2: can follow him on it at Steve Kroner SF. Now,

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Speaker 2: your biggest thing in the Winner is basketball. You follow

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Speaker 2: college basketball really close, especially Northern California. You do a

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Speaker 2: great job with Saint Mary's Boy. There has been some

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Speaker 2: great basketball programs up here. Steve, tell me a couple

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Speaker 2: of your favorites.

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Speaker 4: Well, the fact that I'm now doing for the past

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Speaker 4: two seasons, believe it or not, I've been the analyst

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Speaker 4: on Saint Mary's ESPN Plus telecast, so I certainly have

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Speaker 4: probably the most knowledge of Randy Bennett's program. And though

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Speaker 4: the Gails lost last night in the WCC semifinals to

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Speaker 4: Santa Clara, it's been another excellent season for Saint Mary's

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Speaker 4: twenty seven and five overall, sixteen and two in the WCC,

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Speaker 4: tied with Gonzaga for the conference regular season title. The

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Speaker 4: Gails are assuredly going into the NCAA Tournament for the

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Speaker 4: fifth straight year, and I think they've got a pretty

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Speaker 4: good chance of going for a fifth straight year as

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Speaker 4: a single digit seed. I think right now Saint Mary's

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Speaker 4: is probably somewhere around a seven or an eight seed.

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Speaker 4: It's been a three fives in the seven the past

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Speaker 4: four seasons, which obviously is a great tribute to what

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Speaker 4: Randy Bennett has done. But Saint Mary's this season is

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Speaker 4: certainly not the only team that has NCAA Tournament visions

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Speaker 4: Santa Clara winning last night, even though it lost Token

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Speaker 4: Zaga to night. I think the Broncos are in. I

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Speaker 4: think they're they're solidly in. Herb Sendek has done a

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Speaker 4: fine job at Santa Clara, but this is the first

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Speaker 4: time Santa Clara will be in the NCAA Tournament since

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Speaker 4: nineteen ninety six, when a guy named Steve Nash was

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Speaker 4: playing for the Broncos. So it's been a while for

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Speaker 4: Santa Clara, but it deserves it. This season and Callen

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Speaker 4: Stanford have both had good seasons. Stanford lost today to

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Speaker 4: pit in the ACC Tournament, which I think probably will

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Speaker 4: keep Stanford out of the NCAA Tournament, but it still

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Speaker 4: has maybe a shred of a chance. And Cal, which

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Speaker 4: was looking really good about two and a half weeks ago,

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Speaker 4: has had two losses in its last three games, which

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Speaker 4: puts the Bearers in dicey situation. But Cal does have

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Speaker 4: a game in the ACC Tournament tomorrow against Florida State,

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Speaker 4: and if it wins that game, it would play Duke

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Speaker 4: and that would be a tall task. But Duke has

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Speaker 4: two starters who are out with foot injuries, and if

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Speaker 4: somehow Cal were to win those two games, then I

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Speaker 4: think Cal would have a pretty good shot at the

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Speaker 4: NCAA Tournament.

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Speaker 2: Well, March Madness is coming up, and there's so many

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Speaker 2: good college programs in the top ten, and of course

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Speaker 2: all of them here from northern California. If you're starting

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Speaker 2: to look at a dark horse, somebody that could possibly

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Speaker 2: jump into this March madness and win.

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Speaker 3: It. Tell me some of the teams that you're looking.

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Speaker 4: At, Well, you know, it's weird to say that Kansas

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Speaker 4: is a dark horse because Kansas is one of the

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Speaker 4: blue bloods in college basketball. But Kansas hasn't had a

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Speaker 4: great season this year, but Kansas is still Kansas. I

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Speaker 4: think that would be, you know, some team that Kansas

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Speaker 4: almost assuredly won't be a you know, a top two

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Speaker 4: or three seed, but you know, is it capable of

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Speaker 4: running the table? I think it is if you're looking

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Speaker 4: for a team in the A C C. Which it's

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Speaker 4: it's weird to say the ACC is a conference which

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Speaker 4: I keep close tabs on for those of us who

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Speaker 4: grow up with the Pack eight and the Fact ten

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Speaker 4: and the Fact twelve. But now that tallan Stanford are

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Speaker 4: in the ACC, I think an ACC team that is

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Speaker 4: really formidable and again won't be a top two or

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Speaker 4: three seed, but is a team to watch is Virginia.

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Speaker 4: Virginia's had a heck of a season and it would

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Speaker 4: not surprise me for the cav Layers to put together

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Speaker 4: a good run. And I'll be a homer for a

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Speaker 4: bit if you, if you let me, it wouldn't. I mean,

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Speaker 4: Saint Mary's won't be a high seed again seven or

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Speaker 4: an eight. But given the right matchups, it would not

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Speaker 4: surprise me for Saint Mary's to at least get to

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Speaker 4: the second weekend, to get to this week sixteen.

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Speaker 2: Steve, what makes Saint mary so strong? I know the

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Speaker 2: head coach is fantastic. He's been in so many great

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Speaker 2: championship games. A couple of players that stand out for

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Speaker 2: you on Saint Mary's club.

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Speaker 4: Well, certainly Paulus Morowskis, who's a forward from Lithuania. The

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Speaker 4: second year at Saint Mary's. He began his college career

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Speaker 4: at Arizona, didn't play a whole lot with the Wildcats,

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Speaker 4: but he's been an all WCC per former of the

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Speaker 4: last two seasons, and Saint Mary's backcourt is really good.

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Speaker 4: Mikey Lewis a kid from Oakland who started this He's

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Speaker 4: a sophomore. He started this season really well. He went

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Speaker 4: into a slump kind of in December and January, but

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Speaker 4: he got out of it in February in a big

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Speaker 4: way and the Gales went over Gonzaga to end the

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Speaker 4: regular season in a really packed house Electric Knight in Maraga.

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Speaker 4: Mikey Lewis had thirty one points and his running mate

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Speaker 4: the point guard Josh Dent from Australia. Josh Dent didn't

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Speaker 4: do a whole lot as a freshman last season. Then

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Speaker 4: he kind of was thrust into the point guard starting

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Speaker 4: role because Jordan Ross, who was kind of the second

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Speaker 4: point guard last season, Jordan Ross transferred to Georgia and

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Speaker 4: so all of a sudden, Josh Dent had the job

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Speaker 4: to himself, and Josh Dent has been really, really good.

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Speaker 4: Dent and Lewis joined Morawskis on the All WCC team.

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Speaker 4: And you know, if you're looking for the longer version

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Speaker 4: of why Saint Mary's has been good, the two words

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Speaker 4: obviously would be Randy Bennett and then how Randy Bennett

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Speaker 4: has cultivate the Australian pipeline that's historically been really good

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Speaker 4: for Saint Mary's and the way he's kind of changed

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Speaker 4: his program for I mean, the Gales have been really

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Speaker 4: good for the past two decades, but for the first

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Speaker 4: decade plus it was really a team that was based

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Speaker 4: on offense. You could think of guys like Matthew Della

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Speaker 4: Vadova and Patty Mills and Mickey McConnell and Rob Jones.

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Speaker 4: Saint Mary's really ran a well conceived, well designed offense

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Speaker 4: and was pretty good defensively, but not great, And over

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Speaker 4: the past six or seven years that's kind of switched

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Speaker 4: Saint Mary's offense. This year has been better, but the

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Speaker 4: past four or five years Saint Mary's a good offense

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Speaker 4: but not great, but had been really good defensively and

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Speaker 4: really really good on the boards. And Randy has kind

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Speaker 4: of instilled that in his team, and his teams have

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Speaker 4: have embodied that defense and rebounding before anything else.

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Speaker 3: Did you enjoy doing a little TV work?

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Speaker 2: Did you enjoy sitting next to a play by play

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Speaker 2: announcer and giving your input during the game?

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Speaker 4: Bill, I've enjoyed it much more than I really would

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Speaker 4: have fought. And to be honest, you know, when I

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Speaker 4: started it, I maybe had a little bit imposter syndrome

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Speaker 4: in that, you know, my high my playing career ended

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Speaker 4: for the nineteen seventy six seventy seven Peninsula League champion

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Speaker 4: Cappuccino Mustangs, and I'm proud to say I was the

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Speaker 4: ninth man and an eight man rotation so to be

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Speaker 4: an analyst, I mean, I don't know the game as

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Speaker 4: well as a Dan Belwomani. I don't know the game

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Speaker 4: as well as Steve Lavin. I don't know the game.

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Speaker 4: Hey Williams, guys who were a Dick Vital, I don't know.

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Speaker 4: I think I'd be lying. I'd be doing myself and

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Speaker 4: the audience a disservice if I tried to analyze it

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Speaker 4: to the level that those gentlemen can. But you know

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Speaker 4: I I do know the Saint Mary's program very well.

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Speaker 4: You know, I do know stats, and I do know

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Speaker 4: you know basketball to a decent level. So I've tried

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Speaker 4: to keep two things in mind as I've done it.

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Speaker 4: One and you know, you and I have have had

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Speaker 4: this in our whatever. We do know what you know

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Speaker 4: and know what you don't know. So I try to

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Speaker 4: keep that in the back of my mind. And then

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Speaker 4: the second part. I was told this either the first

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Speaker 4: week that I started last season. I think about it

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Speaker 4: by Michael Duka, our friend, but I'm not sure. I

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Speaker 4: can't remember for sure, But whoever it was, I think

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Speaker 4: it was. Michael told me the great thing about being

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Speaker 4: an analyst on a telecast is if you don't have

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Speaker 4: anything to say. You don't have to say anything because

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Speaker 4: the play by play guy, and the pictures and the

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Speaker 4: sound can take can carry you. And I've tried to

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Speaker 4: keep that.

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Speaker 2: Fe the audience see and let the audience watch the

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Speaker 2: game with you.

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Speaker 3: Right, That's what they.

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Speaker 4: Yes the old line about. You know, I'd rather maybe

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Speaker 4: not say anything and have the audience think I'm not

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Speaker 4: very smart as opposed to saying something and then they

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Speaker 4: know I'm not very smart.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's great stuff.

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Speaker 2: Steve Croner joining me on sports phone, kV are, let's

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Speaker 2: switch it around a little bit. Have socked on Major

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Speaker 2: League Baseball? The Giants today at spring training they won

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Speaker 2: five to four. They went over to Goodyear and beat

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Speaker 2: Cleveland fourteen and three. Steve a great record, a lot

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Speaker 2: of positive things on the hitting side. The defense has

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Speaker 2: gotten better. But the one thing that I'm really loving

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Speaker 2: is the aggressiveness and stealing bases.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's fun. And then you did the question is

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Speaker 4: you know, is that solely for spring training or will

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Speaker 4: that go into the regular season? And only Tony Botello

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Speaker 4: knows that for sure, maybe a few of his of

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Speaker 4: his members of his coaching staff. You know, it's easier

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Speaker 4: to run obviously when the games don't count. But you'd

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Speaker 4: like to see the Giants be a little more, a

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Speaker 4: little to a lot more aggressive on the bases than

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Speaker 4: they have been over the years. I mean, growing up

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Speaker 4: in the sixties and seventies around here, the Giants didn't

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Speaker 4: steal a lot of bases because you had May's and

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Speaker 4: McCovey and Sopaida and Jack Clark and guys who could

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Speaker 4: hit the ball out of the park. They don't necessarily

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Speaker 4: have you certainly enough, you don't have Mason McCovey who does.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean I think I don't think they're

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Speaker 4: going to be, you know, the the Saint Louis Cardinals

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Speaker 4: of the nineteen eighties. They're not going to be stealing

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Speaker 4: the words.

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Speaker 3: Right out of my mouth too. Boy.

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Speaker 2: They had some road runners on that staff, on that

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Speaker 2: on those bases, boy goodness, Vince Coleman, Lonnie Smith, you know,

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Speaker 2: you can go right.

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Speaker 3: I mean, all of them they.

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Speaker 2: Were just speedsters and they had the turf where they

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Speaker 2: all like to just get the ball and play.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it's a little different, but then but yeah,

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Speaker 4: but the back of the Giants, I think they certainly

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Speaker 4: could benefit by being a little more aggressive, not only

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Speaker 4: not only just stealing bases, but you know that going

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Speaker 4: from first to third, going from second to home on

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Speaker 4: certain plays, you know you don't want to run yourself

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Speaker 4: into house too. And that's, you know, the the analytics

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Speaker 4: part of this, but just in terms of being aggressive,

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Speaker 4: in terms of being a product that fans like to see,

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Speaker 4: I think fans certainly like to see people taking chances

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Speaker 4: on the basis I think if you can carry some

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Speaker 4: of this baseball or base running aggressiveness into the regular season,

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Speaker 4: I think it's a good thing.

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Speaker 2: Steve Croner, my good friend, joining me on sports phone

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Speaker 2: kmb are, I want to talk about hitting a little bit,

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Speaker 2: Hunter Men's and Oscar Bernard. Of course, Oscar Bernard's brought

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Speaker 2: on from last year's staff, and I think it's a

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Speaker 2: positive for Oscar to be back a lot of Latin

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Speaker 2: players and he speaks fluent Spanish. But Hunter Men's coming

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Speaker 2: over from the Toronto Blue Jays, putting the ball in play,

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Speaker 2: runners in scoring position, all these things you and I

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Speaker 2: have talked about so many years on our shows on Friday,

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Speaker 2: where you've come on and we always talk two for

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Speaker 2: twelve and runners in scoring position, Steve one for eleven

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Speaker 2: this year, I'm seeing something different, and of course it's

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Speaker 2: spring training, we all understand that. But putting the ball

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Speaker 2: and play and going the opposite way, I'm seeing a

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Speaker 2: little bit more of that. What do you think so far?

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Speaker 4: Well, again, if I use two words for Randy Bennett

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Speaker 4: to describe the Saint Mary's success, I could use two words,

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Speaker 4: perhaps for the Giants and trying to get to a

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Speaker 4: more approach, I'll get it out, an approach to making

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Speaker 4: contact more often. The two words would be Luisa rise Right.

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Speaker 4: I think he's a perfect example of a guy who

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Speaker 4: some analytics people don't like because he doesn't hit the

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Speaker 4: ball out of the park, but he makes contact most

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Speaker 4: of the time. He gets on base a lot of times,

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Speaker 4: and sure he's going to hit in it some double

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Speaker 4: plays because he puts the ball in play, but he's

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Speaker 4: also going to get line drive to left center and

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Speaker 4: right center to drive in a run or two. And yeah,

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Speaker 4: hitting the home run is great, but there aren't a

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Speaker 4: lot of guys who are going to do it. So

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Speaker 4: if you're not going to hit home runs, put the

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Speaker 4: ball in play, and particularly with runners and scoring position,

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Speaker 4: particularly with a man at third and less than two

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Speaker 4: outs and see what happens.

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Speaker 2: Well, Steve, I know you were on the show, the

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Speaker 2: pregame shows when we were doing the fan fest, and yeah,

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Speaker 2: there was three names we brought up, Ron Washington, Bruce

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Speaker 2: Bochie and of course Dusty Baker. Dusty Baker being the

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Speaker 2: manager in Nica WAGRAA. And then now Ron Washington's there

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Speaker 2: sitting right next to Tony Vittello on most of the

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Speaker 2: games and there really there's a lot of discussion going on.

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Speaker 3: I really believe it's rubbing off a little bit.

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Speaker 2: I think he's I think Tony's getting a little bit

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Speaker 2: more confident, more control of the team. Sure they're winning,

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Speaker 2: but I think the voice is starting to get in

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Speaker 2: that clubhouse where they're believing in him. Those three guys

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Speaker 2: I mentioned, what do they do? What does those names

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Speaker 2: do for the clubhouse?

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Speaker 4: Well two more two words baseball royalty. You're talking Bruce Boch,

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Speaker 4: Dusty Baker, and Ron Washington. That's baseball royalty. And you know,

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Speaker 4: certain guys have to earn respect. Most guys have to

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Speaker 4: earn respect. Those three guys they don't have. They automatically

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Speaker 4: have respect. So if you get those guys around the

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Speaker 4: team around Tony Botello that just just almost by osmosis,

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Speaker 4: you figure that's going to improve the team. I mean,

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Speaker 4: and it's not. You know, it's not a magic trick,

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Speaker 4: and you still see guys who've got a lot of

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Speaker 4: ability and a lot of baseball savvy. But if if

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Speaker 4: you have Bruce Bochie, Dusty Baker, and Ron Washington around

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Speaker 4: your team, I think your team's going to be better.

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Speaker 4: I don't think there's any way anyway that it won't

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Speaker 4: be better.

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Speaker 2: Steve, one of the biggest things going on right now

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Speaker 2: is the bullpen of the Giants. There's so many names,

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Speaker 2: there's so much talent, and you only got, you know,

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Speaker 2: in less than two weeks to figure this out. Jeremy

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Speaker 2: Afel came out earlier and said, the bullpen needs roles.

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Speaker 2: You and I have talked about this for many, many shows,

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Speaker 2: many years. How are they going to decipher what these

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Speaker 2: roles are when they don't even know who's in the

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Speaker 2: bullpen yet.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's a great question, and I think that's

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Speaker 4: obviously the biggest question for the Giants right now.

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Speaker 3: And I think that the.

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Speaker 4: Question within that question is who's going to be the closure.

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Speaker 4: I think if you decide who the closer is, and

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Speaker 4: here comes one more bart train. So if I can

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Speaker 4: talk see if I can talk over it. I think

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Speaker 4: once you decide who the closure is going to be,

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Speaker 4: well maybe you're going to have a left in a

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Speaker 4: writing closure. I don't think that that would be out

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Speaker 4: of the question. Well, I think you have to set

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Speaker 4: who the closure is going to be, and then your

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Speaker 4: set up men kind of fall in line until you

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Speaker 4: set who the closure is. I don't think you really

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Speaker 4: are going to have roles. And I know people say

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Speaker 4: why do you know? Why do pitchers need to have

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Speaker 4: defined roles? It's you once you go in the game.

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Speaker 4: It's still sixty feet six inches. But it's like anything.

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Speaker 4: If you if you know what your role is, it

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Speaker 4: can be are and I when I worked at KPI

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Speaker 4: X or the Chronicle, you'd like to know what I'd

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Speaker 4: like to know what my role is going to be.

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Speaker 4: It doesn't mean I can't do something else, but you

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Speaker 4: you like to know what you're going to be doing.

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Speaker 4: And I think that certainly applies to a bullpen. In fact,

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Speaker 4: it might apply to a bullpen even more so than

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Speaker 4: other parts of the team or in other walks of life,

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Speaker 4: because I mean, I think there's a there's a time

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Speaker 4: and a place when pitchers want to know when they're

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Speaker 4: when they're gonna get up, which pitters they say they

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Speaker 4: might face. And you know, if you can define those roles,

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Speaker 4: so much the better. But again, I don't think you

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Speaker 4: can define the roles until you establish who the closer's

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Speaker 4: gonna be.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that's going to be probably Ryan Walker.

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Speaker 2: It looks that way, and there's really nobody in the

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Speaker 2: bullpen right now that has the experience in Ryan doesn't

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Speaker 2: have much experience, but they really didn't go out and

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Speaker 2: really improve the bullpen with any major free agents, and

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Speaker 2: I think that's where he's going to fall into it.

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Speaker 2: And it all reads I always talk about Eric Miller,

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Speaker 2: and Eric Miller is a big part of this bullpin.

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Speaker 2: He's going to start ramping up here this week. He's

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Speaker 2: had some minor injuries. I talked to him over The Winner.

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Speaker 2: He worked his tail off over the Winner. Of course,

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Speaker 2: the injuries last year plagued him toward the end, but

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Speaker 2: he's fired up and then he comes to spring training

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Speaker 2: and has some lower back issues. But I'm right there

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Speaker 2: with you. It could go Eric Miller or Ryan Walker.

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Speaker 2: I really believe they may go righty in certain search

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Speaker 2: and situations.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I'll again, I'll show my age, and

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Speaker 4: I remember a time when it was Randy Moffatt and

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Speaker 4: Gary Levell, and then it was Greg Mitton and Gary Levell. Right.

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Speaker 4: I mean, it's not out of the question. I mean,

435
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,560
Speaker 4: most of the time over the past what forty years,

436
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:22,920
Speaker 4: you've had one guy. But I don't think it would

437
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,199
Speaker 4: be out of the question for Ryan Walker to be

438
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 4: the right handed closer and Eric Miller to be the

439
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,360
Speaker 4: left handed closer. It might serve both of those guys

440
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 4: and the Giants pretty well.

441
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:36,720
Speaker 2: And I think Tony's going to bring this. I think

442
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,600
Speaker 2: Tony's going to do some different things than just logical

443
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,280
Speaker 2: things you've seen done. That's what I like about the

444
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 2: base stealing, hitt and runs more baseball. You know, the

445
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,720
Speaker 2: history of baseball was brought on by so many different

446
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 2: parts of the game and it's been taken apart by analytics.

447
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,520
Speaker 2: And you know, my last thing to you, I think

448
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 2: Tony is doing a fine job. It's going to be

449
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:01,160
Speaker 2: very much tested here in the first couple of weeks

450
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,680
Speaker 2: when they got the Yankees, the Padres, the Mets, the Phillies.

451
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:06,840
Speaker 2: It's those are going to be some tough games for

452
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 2: him to manage.

453
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:09,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, they did.

454
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:13,160
Speaker 4: They didn't really uh give him a nice little uh.

455
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,040
Speaker 4: I mean, every major league is tough. But yeah, it

456
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 4: thinks that that's the word I'm looking for. I was gonna, Yeah,

457
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 4: they didn't give them quite the little Sisters of the

458
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 4: Poor to open the season. But I mean, you gotta

459
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 4: you gotta play, you gotta you know, you play everybody

460
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 4: every year or so. It's just that it's front loaded. Well,

461
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,760
Speaker 4: if you can get if you can get through that stretch,

462
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 4: you know, they'll thing you get through at five hundred,

463
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 4: and then you take on theoretically the lesser teams and

464
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 4: maybe you can make some hay. But look, buster Posey

465
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:48,920
Speaker 4: said it at the outset, Tony Vottello acknowledge it. It's

466
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:53,920
Speaker 4: a it's a gamble, it's unorthodox. It doesn't mean it's

467
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 4: going to fail, it doesn't mean it's going to succeed.

468
00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 4: It's just going to be different. And you know, but

469
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 4: you'd like to think, if you're gonna do something out

470
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,360
Speaker 4: of the box, so to speak, that Tony Botello has

471
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,680
Speaker 4: the right makeup, the right mix. And I think We've said,

472
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 4: discussed this, the mix of confidence and humility that tried

473
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:15,080
Speaker 4: to make this thing succeed.

474
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:19,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, Steve, if you have safe travels back on bart.

475
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,159
Speaker 2: I appreciate your time once again tonight, looking forward to

476
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,919
Speaker 2: more Friday nights with you. Late Night Croner with me

477
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 2: on Fridays and we'll be talking soon. But thanks again, Steve.

478
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 4: Always a pleasure.

479
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 2: Build.

480
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 3: That was Steve.

481
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:34,439
Speaker 2: Croner on Sports Phone KMBR. We're gonna come back and

482
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 2: wrap up the show, turn it over to Dubzot right

483
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 2: here on K and B r D Sports Leader