WEBVTT - Rays broadcaster Brian Anderson joins + Tigers post-Skubal era chat 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:12.520 Let's talk about the sizzling Tampa Bay Rays. They've won 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:14.400 nine in a row entering Friday nights, six and a 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.680 half games up in the Division over the Yankees. Brian Anderson, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.120 Rays broadcaster does a great job on there, Brian, thanks 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:22.360 for joining us, man. What are you seeing? What's looking good? 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:24.680 Well, I'll get to that. 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.440 I want to piggyback on you guys, your stories about 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.240 the hit my pitch and you know who's doing you 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.000 know who's angry who. When I was pictured for the Angels, 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:35.960 we were playing the Tigers and they had come into 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:37.959 town and just it was a weekend series and they 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:39.879 had just wiped this out. And I don't remember if 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:41.920 it was a three or a four game series, but 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:44.560 they had come in in the first however many games 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.800 they just smoked us. So I'm pitching the final game 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:50.880 of that series, day game, and we've got a five 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.760 to two lead, six to two lead, and hit a 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:55.280 home run off of David Wells. 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:57.960 I can't remember who hit the home run, but Wells. 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:02.320 Then Drills our next hit her and our dugout went crazy, 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:04.920 and of course word went out. When you get back 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:09.560 out there, Travis Frieman, take him down. You're gonna drill Frieman. 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:10.120 That's it. 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:12.200 You know what he did, Bush lead, you know all 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.200 the things. So I go up there the next half fitning. Now, meanwhile, 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:17.320 Travis Fryman, I don't think he was up until third 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.320 in that inning, and I'm like, okay, I've got to 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:21.319 be able to get some outs here before I'm going 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:22.240 to be hitting anybody. 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:23.399 You end up with two. 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:24.880 Guys on and I'm now going to hit a guy. 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:26.800 You know, how's that going to work out? And I 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.039 remember Tony Phillips lined out the third hard, and then 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.600 finally Travis Friman came up and I put one right 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:33.600 in the middle of his back. 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.600 He didn't say a word, took his base. That was it. 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:39.160 That was the end of the series. That was the 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:40.040 last I heard of it. 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.160 All of a sudden, word comes down from the visiting 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:46.199 clubhouse kids. They said when that half fitting was over, 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.400 Frieman went up into the clubhouse and went after David 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.600 Wells and was like, you you were the reason that 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:54.440 I got hit. And so they had a big thing 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:56.920 up in their clubhouse. So, yeah, a lot of times 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.440 guy gets hit. I'm not worried about the pitcher out there, 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:01.440 he did his job. I'm going to go to the 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:03.680 guy that got me hit. So I listen to your 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.160 guys stories that that was perfect. That came to mind. 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:07.560 I had to share it. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.520 It changed. It's changed, Brian, It's changed me as you know. 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.200 It's changed. It's you can't do this anymore. You can't. 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:15.919 You can't get mad at anybody no matter what anyone does. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.799 Everyone is happy and we're all hakuna matata, you know 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:19.400 what I'm saying. 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:20.600 So that's a great thing. 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:23.239 Yeah, you what, you watch it all the time. 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.320 Absolutely, And as someone who was hit many times by 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.640 the Rays on purpose, I mean, you guys are dirty, 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.320 dirty sons of guns down there. And let me tell you, Wagner, 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:34.280 what are you doing. I don't know if you remember 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:35.480 that one from Hawk. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:37.600 Yeah, yeah, No. 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:42.400 Listen with this team right now, I'm gonna tell you 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.959 what I think that you know, having been around the 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.680 league enough and having been around this team enough, it 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.760 is the most well rounded team. 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.520 In the America League, hands down. I think topped about them. 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:52.680 Now. 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.280 You can argue maybe there are some factions of the 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.800 team that you know, other teams are stronger. Maybe you 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:01.400 know the Yankees starting pitching you could that argument, but 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.840 I think when you go top to bottom and you 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:08.120 look at starting rotation, bullpen, especially the back end, and 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:10.840 then you get into the lineup, I don't think that 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.360 there's a deeper, more well rounded team right now, and 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.000 they're showing that. They showed that on this last West 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.040 Coast road trip. It was the first time that a 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.200 team from either the AL East or the NL East 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.239 has gone out and played teams from the NL West 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.880 or the AL West in a three city trip nine 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:32.640 games and gone nine to zero since the nineteen seventy 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:35.800 seven Red Sox did it, and they won games. The 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.360 thing that was really interesting to me, and granted, you're 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.040 playing at cors, you're playing in Sacramento, so there's going 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.920 to be some offensive numbers that are inflated. But they 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.280 had five games on that trip where they scored eight 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.480 or more runs, and they had to win some shootouts 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.360 because the pitching at times wasn't the best, but they 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:54.760 went out did what they had to do to win. 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.640 Then they had four games that they scored four runs 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.440 or few or of course won all of those, and 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:02.520 in those four games they only gave up four runs total. 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.840 So you saw the pitching lockdown when it needed to. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.920 You saw the team be able to slug when they 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.120 needed to, hitting, you know, some home runs, something that 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:14.200 hasn't been a big part of their offense. In fact, 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.680 I think their tenth in the American League in home runs. However, 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.160 if you go back to the beginning of July, this 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.159 is a team that's right at the top of the leaderboard. 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:23.840 A couple days ago they had hit the most. They 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:27.880 still may be up top there. So the home run 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.440 has has come in to be a little bit more 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:32.719 a part of this offense than earlier in the season. 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.760 But it's the versatility it is. You know, you've got 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.320 your big three, You've got Yondi Diez, You've got Jonathan Ronda, 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:43.360 You've got Junior Cameron Aro. I think Liam Hicks was 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:45.400 a big pickup at the trade deadline to kind of 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.120 lengthen that lineup. As far as the power goes, He's 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.080 a perfect fit to for this lineup. 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:53.720 I mean Liam Hickson to this point in the. 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:57.919 Season, you know, he has more walks than strikeouts, and 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.279 since coming to the Rays hitting three on base of 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:03.719 four p thirty eight couple of home runs, nine driven 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.039 in all in eight games. But then you got guys 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:10.320 like Chandler Simpson, Taylor Walls, Johnny DeLuca, all these guys 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:12.919 that do a great job of finding a way to 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.279 get on base, and even if they're not get a 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.200 bunt down, they're very aggressive with the bunt as far 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.600 as trying to bunt for hits, sacrifice bunts, hit and run. 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:23.719 They play an old school style of baseball once you 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.840 get out of the top three of that lineup, and 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.680 it is really difficult. Been watching it all year long, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.680 Very difficult for teams and pitchers to defend because you 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:35.440 never know when. 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:36.120 They're going to do it. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.440 They don't play their version of small ball late in 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.040 the game, when the game's close. They'll do it three 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.960 hitters into a game. I mean, they have Chandler Simpson 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:47.840 on this road trip hit in the three hole. He 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:49.719 comes up in his first at bat, runners at first 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.640 and second, lays down a bunch. It turns out to 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:53.359 be a bunt for a hit, even though he was 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.760 trying to sacrifice. This team is difficult to defend, and 0:05:57.560 --> 0:05:59.960 right now they're playing with a very, very very high 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:00.960 level of confidence. 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.440 Do you worry, BA you mentioned, you mentioned they're Big three. 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:06.719 I guess you could make it big four. 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:09.359 Now if you're throwing Liam Hicks there that they're so 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:11.920 top heavy though they are so, I mean, because then 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:14.640 you get down to like Walls and Chandler Simpson and 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.120 some of the guys kind of towards the bottom. Do 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.000 you worry that at some point if the top four 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.320 don't do anything, that that bottom won't be enough. 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:24.440 I don't, you know what. 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.599 I think that that's always going to be a worry. 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.360 But they do it a little bit differently. They're just scrappy. 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:32.760 They find their way, you know, they find their ways 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:33.360 to get on base. 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:34.960 I mean, Chandler Simpson had a little bit of a 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:36.320 rut in the middle of the year where he had 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:36.560 like a. 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:39.640 Four for forty five streak, But in the last I 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:41.880 don't know, six seven weeks, he's got the top batting 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.039 average in the in the American League. 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:46.040 At least, you know he's doing a. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:47.919 Better job at getting on top of the ball. Ground 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.279 balls and line drives are his game. He hits the 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.479 ball in the air, it's an out, and so you 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.040 do worry about that. But it's almost like the race 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:56.000 have two lineups. 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:56.320 In one. 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.520 You've got your top three to four and then you've 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:01.560 got that bottom half that just they're. 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:02.560 A pain in the neck to deal with. 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.200 And certainly it's tougher to score runs when you're trying 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:07.400 to scratch across two to three hits, lay down a 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.560 sacrifice bunt, have everything work out perfectly to score that 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:11.440 run or two. 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.320 But these guys have found a way to make it happen. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.440 I'll give you another name of a guy who has 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.720 really come on for this team. Victor Mason Junior, is 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.480 getting more opportunities to play out there in right field. 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:27.480 He's an outstanding defender, gets great jumps, takes great routes, 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.560 has a cannon for an arm, and he's hit ten 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:32.600 home runs and one hundred and fifty five at bats, 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.080 so he's been, you know, on the offensive side, he 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:37.840 has been coming through in a big way. 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.240 So they've got different guys that have been stepping up. 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.760 But you're right, when you look at that top three, 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.960 it does look top heavy, but that bottom five to six, 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.760 they can find different ways to score and it just 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.080 becomes a pain to deal with because it's literally like 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.960 having two lineups in one. 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:01.240 Let's talk fabletox, shall we They have apparel for every season. 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:03.880 We're wearing it as we talk about it. 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That guy does not skipping 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.880 an entire day. And I was always I disagreed with 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:20.920 Cleveland a lot on this where they wanted him to 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:22.640 try to lift the ball a little bit more. They 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.560 wanted him to get into the air because they see 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.240 this huge, massive being and they're like, the power's got 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.120 to be there, and he certainly does have power. But 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:32.880 this guy was born with a line drive swing that 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.280 goes all over the field. And I just always watched 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.440 him hitting be b and absolutely loved what I saw. 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.400 But it sounds like he's turning into quite the leader too. 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:43.240 Listen. 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:45.720 He does so much for this team, yet you put 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:47.280 him right up there at the top of the order. 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:48.920 And that's the one thing that the Rays did. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.679 And to your point, not only did Cleveland want him 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:53.040 to get the ball in the air more because of 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:56.040 his size and strength, but he consistently hits. 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:56.520 The ball hard. 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.560 I mean, he gets the barrel to the baseball as 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.400 well as any so you could see why you would. 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.200 Want to turn him into that guy. The Rays they 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:06.160 just let him go. 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:08.680 And this is what I will tell you following him 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:12.440 all these years, he has the most tried and true 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.679 approach that I've seen that he does. 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:16.760 Not deviate from. 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.440 And so what Yondi does is he lets the fastball 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.559 that's middle of the plate and away. He lets that 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.840 fastball get deep into the zone and then shoots it 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:28.760 back up the middle or hits it the other way. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.040 That's just his game. And then if you roll a 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.480 braking ball and something hangs, that's when he'll get the 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.120 barrel through the zone, catch it out front, and now 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.040 he can put some backspin on it to left field 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:40.920 for an extra base hit, maybe even a home run. 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:42.199 And when he catches. 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.520 Backspin on the fastball the other way, I mean he 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:46.480 hits a you know, he'll hit a good number of 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:50.559 home runs that way. The one pitch that Yondy concedes 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.680 is the fastball in He doesn't like it, and because 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.280 he likes to let the fastball travel, that's a pitch 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.200 that can give him trouble. But he's smart enough to 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:04.439 realize in today's game, where command is not the name 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:05.680 of the game, like it used to be. 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.520 He's betting. I know you'd like to. I don't think 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:10.160 you can do it. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.160 If you can pop fastballs in there consistently, you might 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.200 be able to get me. But I know that you 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.720 can't number one, because you may not be comfortable pitching in. 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:21.800 A lot of guys aren't comfortable pitching in. There's an 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.440 art to do that. Aj you would know that better 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:26.600 than anybody sitting behind the plate calling the pitches. 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:28.040 So there's an art to do that. 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.160 Some guys aren't comfortable doing that, and some guys that 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:32.800 are aren't capable. 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:34.520 And Yavi knows eventually, you're. 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:36.600 Gonna pull one towards the middle, and I'm gonna line 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:38.720 that one back up the middle. And he does not 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.480 deviate from that approach, and it has been it has 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.040 been so fun to watch because it's been year after 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.520 year after year, and he doesn't deviate, he doesn't change, 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.200 He does his thing. All he wants to know about 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.960 a pitcher, what's his velocity, what's his top velocity. I'll 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:55.600 take it from there. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.319 That's called hitting, Brian Anderson, that's called hitting. Just that's 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.320 how guy, but that's how guys used to hit. That's 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.280 what we always talked about, is hey, let the fastball 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.160 get deep, hit the fastball the other way, and then 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.719 if they hang a breaking ball, you're on time. I mean, 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.079 that's how it wasn't Hey let me get out front 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.520 and try to just back spin everything. I'll take my 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.320 hits to ryfield as a right handed hitter, and especially 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.400 when you're struggling, and then hey, they hang at breaking ball. Wow, 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:24.680 I clipped it. That used to be hitting. It's not 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:26.920 hitting anymore. So we don't have time to get into that. 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.000 I want to know about Freddie Peek. Freddie p was 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.920 a great clubhouse guy everywhere he's been Milwaukee, New York. 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.960 Right he's come over to Tampa. He hasn't had great starts. 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.079 How's he fitting in in Tampa Bay. 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:40.440 He's fitting in flawlessly. 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:40.920 Uh. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.199 You know Brian Anderson, the OGBA, if we want to 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.160 go down that route as far as TV broadcasting, you know, 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:48.800 he had him in Milwaukee. He was the play by 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.560 play guy still is with the Brewers. And he reached 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.000 out to me right away and said, I'm going to 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.040 tell you right now, you're gonna love this kid, and 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.080 he is going to fit into that clubhouse. It's going 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.880 to be the perfect fit. And speak of that, guys, 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:03.040 this is the other thing I'll tell you. All the 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.120 years that I have been around teams down here with 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.440 the Rays and even teams that I played on, this 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:12.360 is the closest knit group that I can remember. You know, 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.520 there was an off day we started the season in 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:17.640 Saint Louis, and so the day before the game, the 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.040 whole team went out to dinner. Okay, not not unheard of. 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.160 Then we had the game, and then you had a 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.880 Friday off. They had that built in potential weather day. 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.280 On that Friday, the whole team meets in the lobby again, 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:29.439 they go out to dinner. 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:31.680 Fast forward to this last road trip. 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:33.800 We have a day off in Seattle, finish up at 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.440 cors fly into Seattle, have an off day down on 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.280 the hotel lobby. Here come twenty twenty two of the 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:42.560 guys all going out to dinner. It kind of unheard of. 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.640 You get groups here there that go This team is 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.640 as close as it gets. And when you see Freddy 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:53.240 interacting with you know, his teammates already, You're like, yeah, 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:57.400 they've already embraced him, and he is a complete fit 0:13:57.720 --> 0:13:59.920 for this team. And I think that that's why may 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.280 the nerves of the first start in course Field for 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.839 Freddy where it didn't go very well, Maybe that had 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:07.760 a lot to do with it. But I do know 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.120 that he looked much more comfortable his last time out 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.440 in enough tough venue to another tough venue to pitch 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.800 in in Sacramento and put up a quality start, you know, 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.120 six innings, you know, the three earned runs, and look 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:21.600 much more comfortable out on the mound than he did 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:22.160 in Denver. 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:23.760 So I think that he's gonna be fine. 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:26.600 I mean, you guys couldn't have done him any favors. 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.040 You make him start a Can we not start him 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:30.640 in Seattle? 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.520 Somehow? Give him a little bit of a soft landing spot. 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:36.480 Yeah, throw him into the fire, Throw him into the fire. 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.800 I get it. Those are two tough places, for sure. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:43.760 But they won. They won every game. Ye I'm gonna 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:45.840 ask you this, and I know you you're raised guy. 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.320 Is the division over is six and a half game lead? 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.480 We're almost into September. Do the Rays have a big 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.440 enough lead that we can say they're gonna win the 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:55.080 Al East? 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.120 You know what? No, I don't think that the Rays 0:14:59.120 --> 0:14:59.960 want to feel that way. 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:01.960 And I certainly don't want to feel that way that 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.840 Rays have a tougher portion of their schedule coming. I 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:07.160 think their next four or five series are against teams 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.480 that currently would be in the playoffs. And maybe that 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.640 doesn't mean a whole lot, because you know, the American 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:15.320 League is so down, but yeah, I don't think it's 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:18.160 by any stretch over at all. 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:19.480 But I will tell you this. 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:21.760 If you get a six and a half a seven 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.760 game lead, and a week from now we're having the 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.200 same conversation, you start to get into that territory where 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.880 you're like, you know what if you don't win this division, 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.880 then the the C word, the collapse word, maybe starts 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.040 to get dropped because now you've got to you're a 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.960 week closer, you know, to the end of August. 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:45.520 You've got this big lead, and you have to you know. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.200 That's that's where they're That's the position they're putting themselves in, 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:50.920 which is a great position to be. 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:52.440 In, to have that kind of a lead. 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.400 But I think right now they are focused on the 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.280 day to day. I mean, I'm not comfortable with that leads. 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.560 It's a wonderful lead, but we've seen how quickly it 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:03.280 can go. It wasn't that long ago. The Rays have 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.240 been on a really good run obviously as of late, 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.000 but coming out of the All Star Break when Boston 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.840 was red hot. They Boston swept them in a four 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:14.160 game series and outscored them twenty eight to ten. And 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.080 then the team goes to Toronto and loses the first 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.480 game up there, so that quick five games let New 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.200 York you know, right back in it, and so something 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.280 like that can happen, and then you double down the 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.800 final week of the season. The Rays finished the season 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.640 on the road at the New York Yankees, four game 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.560 series in three days with a doubleheader, and then at Philadelphia, 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:40.280 so they've got some tough games coming up. The Yankees 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.000 may still have to say if they can get down 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.560 to that final week of the season, they've got the 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.760 We got an off day on Monday, doubleheader Tuesday, played 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:50.200 them Wednesday, Thursday, and then and then move it along. 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.880 So at that point the Rays want to be out 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.960 of reach, no question about it. But we will see 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:57.120 there's still a tough road to go. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:16:58.040 Yeah. 0:16:58.040 --> 0:16:59.760 I like this team. I think they'll be able to 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:01.840 hand that. I loved the Liam Hicks addition two, which 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:03.960 we can get into after. I had one question for 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.040 you though, kind of relating back to the Yondi factor. 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.399 How different is the mix this year compared to I 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:11.720 don't know if it was last year or maybe the 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.399 year before. They were public and vocal about how they 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.600 didn't feel like they had the right mesh behind the scenes. 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:19.680 We always debate that, like how much does it really 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.159 matter versus the talent you have? But you follow the 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:24.119 team every day, So can you take us through the 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.479 timeline of how things changed in terms of who is 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.199 running the ship from the player perspective and how that 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:31.600