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Speaker 1: I think if they fall out of the race, you

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Speaker 1: could see them trade some more of these veterans because

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Speaker 1: they really like the young core, some of these guys

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Speaker 1: that they've got to look at this part of the

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Speaker 1: year and some of the prospects that are on the way.

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Speaker 2: Mark Topkin from the Tampa Bay Times is here to

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Speaker 2: talk about the Rays. Topper, good to see you. What

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Speaker 2: are you seeing man? The race are getting themselves back

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Speaker 2: in the mix.

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Speaker 1: They're not only winning, they're winning at home, which was

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Speaker 1: even the bigger issue earlier this season as they tried

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Speaker 1: to figure out what kind of jinks the Yankees put

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Speaker 1: on them. It's time, Brenner Field. But yeah, I'm a

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Speaker 1: little bit of a roll right now. Back over five

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Speaker 1: hundred for the first time since like the first week

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Speaker 1: of the season. A lot of things are clicking for

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Speaker 1: them right now.

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Speaker 3: Topper, first of all, clean it up with your background.

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Speaker 3: Clean it up you actually have rays. I mean, we

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Speaker 3: know you've covered the race in certain sception, but you

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Speaker 3: don't have to have the rays behind you, Like, don't

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Speaker 3: take your work.

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Speaker 1: Home with you. The over under, in my head was

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Speaker 1: like ninety seconds into the show before you said something

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Speaker 1: about that. So I think I got the under there.

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Speaker 1: We should have got the MGM bet on that line.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, this is a.

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Speaker 3: Day.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, missus Topkin picked these up when we were in

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Speaker 1: Seattle one year. Pretty cool, actually they are.

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Speaker 3: And I got to meet I met your wife, didn't

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Speaker 3: I this year in Clearwater?

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Speaker 1: I got.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, she's way too good for you. So we as

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Speaker 3: long as we established that, we're good as we all

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Speaker 3: can say. Though, But let me ask you this the race,

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Speaker 3: Scott goes there in second place, they're one game over

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Speaker 3: five hundred. Okay, it's not like they're close to the

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Speaker 3: Yankees and they're chasing. The rest of the division is

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Speaker 3: also garbage right now? How good can this team be?

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Speaker 3: I know, yes, they're playing well right now, but is

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Speaker 3: this really a playoff team with the way the roster

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Speaker 3: is constructed.

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Speaker 1: I think the fair answer AJ is to let's let's

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Speaker 1: see where they are in a month when they get

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Speaker 1: some of these guys back. I mean, Hassan Kim just

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Speaker 1: started his rehab assignment yesterday. Uh, they've been pretty impressed

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Speaker 1: with how that bat has looked in the drill to

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Speaker 1: this point, so he's going to get a spot in

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Speaker 1: that line up when he gets back. They've been kind

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Speaker 1: of piecing it together a little bit. Johnny de Luca

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Speaker 1: was a guy they were counting on a lot. He's

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Speaker 1: been out since the first week of the season. He

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Speaker 1: should be back in the next week or two. Kevin

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Speaker 1: Kelly in the bullpen, so there's a couple of pieces

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Speaker 1: they've been missing. Getting Josh lowback, though, was big, and

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Speaker 1: it's no coincidence that this six game winning streak kind

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Speaker 1: of spawned shortly after he returned. Lent in that lineup

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Speaker 1: a little bit. So are they a playoff team? I

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Speaker 1: think that's going to be as much about how much

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Speaker 1: other mediocrity there is in the American League right now,

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Speaker 1: and it seems like there's quite a bit. But I

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Speaker 1: do think a better read on this team will be

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Speaker 1: in about, like I said, two, three weeks or a month,

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Speaker 1: when they kind of get back the team they expected

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Speaker 1: to have at this time of year. They knew how

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Speaker 1: Sun Kim wasn't going to be back to late May

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Speaker 1: early June, the other guys, obviously the injuries that took

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Speaker 1: some people out to Luca and Josh Lovey and two

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Speaker 1: of the big ones. So let's see what it looks

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Speaker 1: like in a few weeks and then I can give

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Speaker 1: you probably a more fair answer.

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Speaker 4: Now you said you mentioned the six game win streak.

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Speaker 4: They have not I'm just reading this now. Actually they

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Speaker 4: have not trailed for the last forty four innings, not once.

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Speaker 4: Would you credit that to low and all? This lineup?

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Speaker 4: Kind of are they jumping out early or is this

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Speaker 4: the pitching staffs product that is really holding teams in

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Speaker 4: check to start of the games, that gives their offense

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Speaker 4: a little chance to kind of get situated and get

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Speaker 4: their feet under them.

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Speaker 1: A little bit of both. Tip I mean the starting

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Speaker 1: pitching for this six game stretch as a one point

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Speaker 1: five to ozer by the starters, and they're all working

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Speaker 1: five or six innings, so obviously that's been part of it.

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Speaker 1: They've scored first, I think in the last four games

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Speaker 1: and five of the six, so it's a little bit

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Speaker 1: of both. They and they had not been doing that.

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Speaker 1: That was something that they were very much on the

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Speaker 1: opposite side of for the first month, month and a

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Speaker 1: half of the season. They were not scoring first, and

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Speaker 1: like most teams, their records much better. I think they're

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Speaker 1: sixteen and six when they score first, So it's an

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Speaker 1: obvious thing, but it's definitely helped them as part of this.

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Speaker 1: So a little bit of both and just tacking on

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Speaker 1: runs would probably be the third thing. We've seen a

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Speaker 1: lot of games this year where they'll get a couple

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Speaker 1: earlier and then the bats go quiet or they're quiet

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Speaker 1: all night, and then they score a couple in the

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Speaker 1: seventh or eighth when it's a little too late. So

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Speaker 1: scoring in different innings, in multiple innings, and having that

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Speaker 1: starting pitching get it to the bullpen, which has been

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Speaker 1: pretty good. Even though Usaida hasn't been sharp, the rest

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Speaker 1: of them have been pretty sharp.

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Speaker 3: Topper, how's the ballpark playing? You mentioned it that the

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Speaker 3: Yankees have put a jinx on it. Now listen, the

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Speaker 3: Razors super top heavy, home heavy the first half of

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Speaker 3: their season at home. How's this going to play out

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Speaker 3: for them? And then what's the ballpark been like? We

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Speaker 3: just said Cody Clemens who played there yesterday and said

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Speaker 3: it's great. You know, they fixed it up. They made

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Speaker 3: it into as close of a big League park. But

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Speaker 3: from the race standpoint, they're in the Yankees home side,

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Speaker 3: they probably have everything they want, right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the actual accommodations, the under the you know,

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Speaker 1: under the stands kind of stuff for tremendous. The dining room,

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Speaker 1: the training room, the weight room looks like a health club.

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Speaker 1: Not that I spent a lot of time in health

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Speaker 1: plugs a j. I'll just say it before you do,

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Speaker 1: but all that stuff is tremendous. The out tools. You know,

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Speaker 1: the field itself, it's very narrow, foul territory. There's no

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Speaker 1: structure obviously around the outfield. So that's why the wind

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Speaker 1: has been such an issue. You know, there's just not

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Speaker 1: that normal you know, two or three or four decks

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Speaker 1: of stands. The lights seem to be a little dim.

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Speaker 1: A few players have commented on that, both home and

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Speaker 1: you know, both rays and other team players. So I

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Speaker 1: think they've done the best they could. What's been curious

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Speaker 1: is that kind of the reputation was it was going

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Speaker 1: to be mini Yankee Stadium launching pad a ton of runs.

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Speaker 1: The first month or so, the wins were really causing problems.

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Speaker 1: They were very variable, changing going different ways. Balls were

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Speaker 1: getting crushed to left that were getting knocked down, balls

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Speaker 1: were getting crushed to right that were getting knocked down.

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Speaker 1: Then flies that you didn't think we're going out, we're

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Speaker 1: going into the seat. So it seems to have gotten

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Speaker 1: with the heat, which probably makes sense the balls carrying

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Speaker 1: a little better to right. That's where the winds tend

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Speaker 1: to blow from left to right. We've seen a couple

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Speaker 1: of those. There was a game, one of the homers,

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Speaker 1: I think against the Astros the other night, the right

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Speaker 1: field just started to camp under it about six or

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Speaker 1: eight feet in front of the track, and then just

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Speaker 1: like it hit the jet stream, kind of like sometimes

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Speaker 1: they do at Yankee Stadium, with the same dimension. So

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Speaker 1: it maybe is playing a little truer to what the

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Speaker 1: reputation was, which was balls are going to fly in

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Speaker 1: the hot weather.

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Speaker 3: What about the home run that was hit the other

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Speaker 3: day top or that went three hundred and twelve feet

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Speaker 3: but the fence said three hundred and fourteen feet on stadcast,

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Speaker 3: Can you explain that one to me? Because I could

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Speaker 3: never figure that one out.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't. There's been a couple things. Stat cast is

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Speaker 1: like change distances. After they've put one up, they've put

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Speaker 1: another one out there, They've reconfigured it. There was one game,

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Speaker 1: actually this happened twice, there was a home run hit

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Speaker 1: that was said to only be a home run at

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Speaker 1: Steinberner Field, but not at Yankee Stadium and they have

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Speaker 1: the exact same dimensions, so couldn't figure that one out either. So, I,

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Speaker 1: I mean, the stuff those guys do at stat Cast

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Speaker 1: is obviously remarkable, but I don't know they're having a

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Speaker 1: couple of incongruities like that that haven't made a lot

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Speaker 1: of sense. I guess because the Steinburner Field program, I'm

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Speaker 1: sure was pretty new to what they already have in there.

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Speaker 2: Krats, my pupp was picky, not anymore with spotent Tango unkibble,

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Speaker 2: and it is about forty percent less expensive than frozen food,

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Speaker 2: So we're saving in the wallet and we're making our

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Speaker 2: puffs happier.

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Speaker 1: Let's go apples to apples.

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Speaker 4: I'm not cheap, but I don't want to waste my

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Speaker 4: money on something that's good for my dog. This is perfect.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they are very excited, both Bellakratz is pup and

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Speaker 2: Penelope my little pup. For spot En Tango, you can

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Speaker 2: get your pup excited too, and there's no more guessing

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Speaker 2: how much to feed your dog either. Spoten Tango creates

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Speaker 2: a custom plan based on your dog's age, weight, breed,

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Speaker 2: and activity level. It's a nice little survey so upgrade

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Speaker 2: your pets bowl with Spoten Tango Unkibble for a limited time.

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Speaker 2: Go to spotan tango dot com slash foul use code

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Speaker 2: foul to get fifty percent off your first order. That's

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Speaker 2: spotent tango dot com slash foul code foul for fit

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Speaker 2: fifty percent off your first order spotan tango dot com

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Speaker 2: slash foul code foul.

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Speaker 3: All right, Toper, since I have you on, I have

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Speaker 3: to ask this, are the Rays going back to the

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Speaker 3: Trot for sure next year? And then when are you

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Speaker 3: going to have to move to Orlando when they become

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Speaker 3: the Orlando Rays.

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Speaker 1: Again. I also had an over underside bet on you

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Speaker 1: bringing up Orlando. I'm doing really well here. The the

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Speaker 1: plan is to go back to the Trot. Now. I

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Speaker 1: think everything we say, given the horrific things that happened

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Speaker 1: to this community last year, have to be prefaced by

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Speaker 1: you know, mother nature permitting. Right if there's another hurricane

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Speaker 1: or even you know, severe storms that that mess up

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Speaker 1: their plan and cause significant delays or you know, further

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Speaker 1: damage that would change that. But they are expected to

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Speaker 1: start work here in June. Start the prep work. They've

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Speaker 1: already ordered the first part of the roof it's a

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Speaker 1: very convoluted thing. I guess it's purchased in Germany, assembled

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Speaker 1: in China and then has to be shipped over here.

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Speaker 1: Uh So they're still, you know, in the process of that,

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Speaker 1: but they've got the first part of it ordered. The

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Speaker 1: idea is that they start working on this in August.

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Speaker 1: MLB is very involved in this. They're monitoring it. They

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Speaker 1: have someone like on the working Committee that kind of

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Speaker 1: meets every week or so. There's a strong effort and

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Speaker 1: commitment both from the league, the team, the city to

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Speaker 1: get this thing reopening time to start next season. Now,

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Speaker 1: I don't know what to tell you, if you know,

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Speaker 1: I assume they'll ask to start the season on the

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Speaker 1: road if they need a couple extra weeks. I would

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Speaker 1: assume they call the Yankees back or the Phillies or

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Speaker 1: something and say, hey, we need a place to play

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Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks. So I do think the

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Speaker 1: intention is they go back to Troup and they have

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Speaker 1: three years remaining on their lease. Beyond that, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I do know that your buddy's in Orlando, or maybe

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Speaker 1: you're actually the secret financier. The other people are just

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Speaker 1: the front men. They've been talking a lot. They are

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Speaker 1: talking a good game, they're doing press releases, they're putting

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Speaker 1: out statements, they're putting out videos. They seem very confident.

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Speaker 1: I have read a couple of stories saying that it's

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Speaker 1: probably gonna cost more than they estimate, which happens to

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Speaker 1: every sports enterprise, both buying a team and building a stadium.

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Speaker 1: But I don't I don't think you should buy all

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Speaker 1: of the Dreamers shirts yet. Aj. I think you should

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Speaker 1: don't invest all of your money in those just yet.

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Speaker 3: Okay, Well, first of all, when they get to Orlando,

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Speaker 3: they're not going to be called the Dreamers, I can

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Speaker 3: tell you that. So, but they might also not be

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Speaker 3: called the Race, so you might have to change into Core.

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Speaker 1: In your house. Okay, Okay, Well I also think I

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Speaker 1: won't be covering them then, so I think there's a

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Speaker 1: long work out. By the way, I have. No, the

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Speaker 1: Dreamer doesn't do it for you.

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Speaker 3: No, that was that was Pat Williams who passed away.

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Speaker 3: That was his. That was his way just to get

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Speaker 3: a name out there. And uh no, the Dreamers would

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Speaker 3: not be what the name would be, so it would

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Speaker 3: be it would also would not be the Athletics. So

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Speaker 3: we're good with we have two that were covered that

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Speaker 3: they won't be Okay, it won't be the Athletics and

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Speaker 3: it won't be the Dreamers. But I do have to

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Speaker 3: tell this story tover. I saw you in spring training.

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Speaker 3: I saw you when we were in Clearwater doing our show.

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Speaker 3: I ran into you and your wife behind home Plate

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Speaker 3: and I got the witness the first ABS Challenge live

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Speaker 3: and in living color in person, and you were standing

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Speaker 3: next to me, and I was like, well, hold on,

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Speaker 3: I want to see this. And it was quick and

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Speaker 3: it was cool and I'm all for it. Have you

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Speaker 3: thought about that anymore? Have you mentioned it to any

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Speaker 3: other players about how it was in spring training? Because

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Speaker 3: I thought it was one of the coolest things I

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Speaker 3: had ever seen, and it was so fast, it was

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Speaker 3: like boom.

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Speaker 1: Just hanging out with you, that was the bigger moment

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Speaker 1: for me than the first ABS Challenge.

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Speaker 3: I mean I acknowledged you that I actually acknowledged you

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Speaker 3: in public.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I mean that was that was very cool.

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Speaker 1: By the way, before I answer your question, I have

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Speaker 1: to point out that like two days later after I

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Speaker 1: saw you, as when I fell and broke my leg

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Speaker 1: in Port Charlotte. My broken kneecap, so I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I started to wonder if there's been a connection with

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Speaker 1: that too, or you all that being said, that's true,

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Speaker 1: you could have psychologically tripped me. I do think that

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Speaker 1: the players, for the most part liked how quick it was.

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Speaker 1: I still think there's some debate over if you're going

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Speaker 1: to do it, should you only have it on the

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Speaker 1: limited number of challenges and thus you have to kind

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Speaker 1: of gamble when it is going to be the highest

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Speaker 1: leverage moment, or should you just have it in place

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Speaker 1: the system where it's in place for every pitch, or

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Speaker 1: where it's called automatically. So I don't think there's uniformity

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Speaker 1: on that, but I do think there was I hate

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Speaker 1: to say this, Scott, I really hate to say this.

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Speaker 1: Keep note of this that I agree with AJ, but

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Speaker 1: I do think the players, for the most part, were

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Speaker 1: pleased with how quickly it went to My only guys

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Speaker 1: were used to it, obviously, but the guys you've never

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Speaker 1: seen it before were pretty pleased with how quickly. The

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Speaker 1: funnier part was seeing the spring training games in the

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Speaker 1: ballparks where it wasn't set up, such as the poor

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Speaker 1: Charlotte Stadium, where players would tap their hat and ask

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Speaker 1: me for the appeal when it wasn't in place.

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Speaker 2: There You're on fire today, Topper. You get the agreeings

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Speaker 2: with AJ, but you also, you know, stole one of

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Speaker 2: his diss comebacks whatever you want to call it, before

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Speaker 2: you could drop it, which is always a strong play.

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Speaker 2: I did feel that one coming as well.

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Speaker 1: Let me ask you a sorry, god gonna say, after

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Speaker 1: I saw what Tory Hunter said about him, I had

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Speaker 1: to be a little more more on the attack.

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Speaker 3: See the of the one of the greatest compliments I've

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Speaker 3: ever been given by a next teammate. By the way,

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Speaker 3: I have to admit that I love you, Tori, but

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Speaker 3: I didn't.

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Speaker 1: Expect that, so I appreciate it.

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Speaker 4: The checks in the may that's exactly, the checks in

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Speaker 4: the emails.

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Speaker 2: Uh, the poster out there too, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok whatever

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Speaker 2: you can find that stuff. I mean, we had great

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Speaker 2: combos with toy. If you don't know what we're talking about,

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Speaker 2: let me jump back to raise. Uh, do you think

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Speaker 2: costs on Kim can make a big impact? And also

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Speaker 2: do you think if this team hangs around in this

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Speaker 2: range they will do some slight adding. I know it's

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Speaker 2: early and we still have to see how things play out,

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Speaker 2: but they did do a mini fire sale last trade deadline.

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Speaker 2: I know they don't get the same pressure topper as

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Speaker 2: other fan bases put on, but there still is a

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Speaker 2: fan base that would like to see them compete most seasons,

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Speaker 2: and they would like to see that last year turns

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Speaker 2: into a more competitive.

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Speaker 5: Hmtle bit, you're freezing up on me there, you froze

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Speaker 5: up last year, more competitive team?

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Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I got the point of her. Scott. I

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Speaker 1: do think that you know, there's been a there was

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Speaker 1: a CeNSE ofs extreme disappointment last year. I do think

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Speaker 1: that they would like to return that. And I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, knowing how many things went against them this year,

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Speaker 1: that they were dealing with having to find a new

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Speaker 1: home and you know, scrambling and having to move to

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Speaker 1: Steinburner Field and dealing with you know, it's going to

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Speaker 1: be a season long thing. I mean, John Schneider had

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Speaker 1: some comments the other day after the Blue Jays lost

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Speaker 1: about how hard it was to concentrate in the heat

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Speaker 1: and play in the heat, and you know it's only

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Speaker 1: going to get worse. So the Rays is going to

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Speaker 1: be a long nights just going to be rain now,

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Speaker 1: even with the only handful of games in July and August,

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Speaker 1: so they know they're up against it. So yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think there'd be a certain sense of within reason, as

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Speaker 1: it always is with the Rays, of trying to kind

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Speaker 1: of show up what they could handle all that they

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Speaker 1: were faced with this year, all these challenges of having

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Speaker 1: to relocate, of having to play outdoors in the heat,

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Speaker 1: and find a way to get into the playoffs. So

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Speaker 1: I do think they'd be motivated to do that. I

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Speaker 1: think it go either way too. I think if they

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Speaker 1: fall out of the race, you can see them trade

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Speaker 1: some more of these veterans because they really like the

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Speaker 1: young core, some of these guys that they've got to

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Speaker 1: look at this part of the year, and some of

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Speaker 1: the prospects that are on the way. So I think

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Speaker 1: there could be a lot of action for the Rays

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Speaker 1: either way come July, depending on where they are in this.

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Speaker 2: Okay, I like it, and I'm back on frozen topper.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff. Good to see you.

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Speaker 2: Appreciate the time, man, We'll talk soon anytime.

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Speaker 1: AJ can't wait till we hang out again. Buddy.

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Speaker 2: Oh hold your brother, we got to go to a game,

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Speaker 2: youk right, You guys come out over to time rid

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Speaker 2: or Field.

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Speaker 3: I just got a text for Mike Herman, the Twins

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Speaker 3: travel guy. He's like, this is the closer going to

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Speaker 3: be all year. You're not going to come say I.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, I don't don leagues.

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Speaker 2: We'll work on a show f T at the minor

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Speaker 2: leagues for one day.

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Speaker 1: It's all right. I'm on, come on, come on. You

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Speaker 1: let you know.

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Speaker 3: As long as we got shade fans and your conditioning,

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Speaker 3: I'm good.

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Speaker 1: And we got Fox. We do have air conditioning in

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Speaker 1: the press box. There you go. It might happen, all right.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Topper